Hon Speaker and members of the House, I rise here to pay homage to Comrade Joe Mamaroba Malahlela. I had known Comrade Joe Malahlela for the past 16 years, having met him at the then University of the North, where we were both students.
Comrade Joe, as he was called by comrades, used to refer to himself as Matshikitshela. He was a young, organic intellectual who, upon arrival at the University of the North, joined the SA Communist Party and participated in the party's school, where he was imbued with the fundamental ideas of Marxist-Leninism. It was during that era that he joined the South African Students' Congress, Sasco, where he was a revolutionary activist.
For many years, this young intellectual followed in the footsteps of the late Castro Pilusa, and the late comrades Peter Mokaba and Frans Mohlala. These were the people who inspired him to form part of the Mankweng Youth Congress, which he joined in 1987 in order to fight for our liberation.
He was a man who, at a young age, was trained within the structures of MK, just before the cessation of the armed struggle. He was inspired by the ideal of a free country, in which black and white people could live together in harmony.
When he was a student at the University of the North, he served on its SRC. In 1996 he served as the head of its department of information and publicity, and was elected as the treasurer-general of the SRC the following year.
It was during those years that we got to understand the personality of this young leader of our people. As previous speakers have said, Comrade Joe was a very kind person. He was also a person who believed in the sanctity of thought. He believed that his ideas should be subjected to critical discourse and he was a person who was prepared to defend his own ideas.
When we were with him in the student movement, we got to understand the political literature of the ANC through some of the events that he organised for us.
Comrade Joe was also a singer. At all our events, whether those of the youth league or of Sasco, he would lead us in revolutionary songs that defined the tasks of our revolution during his lifetime.
He has completed a journey, the inevitable journey of all mankind. He completed it at the very prime of his life, when we believed we could still have expected a great contribution from Comrade Joe.
Before he passed on, he served on the Public Service Commission. His work in that commission was reflected in the sort of reports that were beginning to emerge from the institution. He was a person who understood that the Public Service Commission's role was to advance and deepen the transformation of the Public Service; to ensure that there was accountability on the part of our country's public servants; to ensure that we elevate the standard of openness, of transparency and of accountability, and also to advance our fight against corruption.
The ANC would like to express its profound condolences to the Malahlela family, to the entire youth movement in the country, to the student movement and to the community of Mankweng and Ga-Dikgale in particular. We have lost a true revolutionary. May his soul rest in peace. Thank you.
Debate concluded.
Motion agreed to.