Date: 13/04/2010
Source: The African National Congress
Title: ANC: Motshekga: Speech by the Chief whip, at the memorial service of the late Deputy Minister of Health Molefi Sefularo, Parliament

It is a saddening reality of
life that death, in its recurrent merciless
and cruel snatching of human
lives, always characterise the modus
operandi of an excellent hunter -
preying on the best and mighty amongst
us. It is probably for this reason
that the English 16th century poet
John Donne extensively lamented and
cursed it in his famous sonnet,
Death be Not Proud.

In Dr Molefi Sefularo,
death indeed found and snatched one of the best
products our glorious
liberation movement has ever produced. It claimed
a well trained and
seasoned cadre who was anointed and baptised in the
rich traditions and
customs of our revolutionary movement. It has robbed
the nation of a loving
father and caring husband, a dedicated comrade
and friend, a humble servant,
a passionate and committed revolutionary,
a prolific thinker, a valued
academic and politician who dedicated his
entire life to change.

Those who
had the privilege of meeting or working with him will know Dr
Sefularo as
one of the hardest working, committed and humble cadres.
True to the
character of a caring organisation to which he belonged, he
will always put
the interest of others, particularly the less privileged
in the society,
ahead of his. He was selfless and, like many comrades
who put their personal
and family lives on hold in pursuit of the
liberation struggle, spent his
life fighting for the South African that
we live in today.

He was among the
revolutionary generation of medical practitioners who
surrendered their
skills, talents and knowledge to the course of our
liberation during the
most difficult period of our history. As a medical
graduate from Medunsa, Dr
Sefularo could have simply chosen to open a
private practice and live a life
that is financially comfortable for him
and his family. But because of his
willing sacrifice and selflessness,
he saw his qualification as one of the
weapons in the course of the
people struggle for freedom.

Like many other
revolutionary medical practitioners ever produced by our
revolution, Dr
Sefularo understood that upholding the Hippocratic oath
of professionalism
in medical practice was not a task that is only
conducted in the confines of
hospital consultation rooms, but a task
that involves healing the nation of
all its social ills, such as
poverty, underdevelopment, joblessness, crime,
illiteracy and diseases.

His death has indeed robbed all of us of a dynamic
and talented leader
with a passion for social justice and a deep care for
the poor. Our
programme for the fundamental transformation of the national
healthcare
sector, which Dr Sefularo championed as part of our national
health
ministry, has been left poorer by his death.

As we mourn his tragic
death, we must also celebrate a colorful life
entirely dedicated to the
struggle for peace, freedom and justice.
At the height of the repressive
apartheid period when joining the
struggle was at best regarded as a ticket
to prison, and worse, a step
closer to one's grave, like many other brave
martyrs of our revolution,
Sefularo defiantly joined the struggle, risking
his own life and that of
his family in the process.

When apartheid was
finally dismantled in 1994, and cadres were roped in
to serve in the newly
formed democratic government, Sefularo responded
to the call. He formed part
of the first generation of the new South
Africa's legislators in the North
West province - where he also held
various leadership positions in the ANC
and government, including as MEC
for Health and recently as the Deputy
Chairperson of the ANC.
When he joined Parliament in 2004, Dr Sefularo
proved to be one of the
most talented cadres who contributed remarkable
arguments to the
national discourse, particularly through various structures
of the ANC
Caucus. He was an asset to the Whippery and the Strategy
Committee,
which is tasked with ensuWhen we proclaimed that health would be
one of our priorities in the
next five years, we said this with the
knowledge and full understanding
that our movement had a troop of
outstanding cadres like Sefularo, who
had both the wisdom and strength to
translate our manifesto into
practical action to bring about real change in
the quality of life of
our people.

As we gather here today to celebrate his
life, we can proclaim without
any fear of contraction that Sefularo was
indeed an outstanding cadre
who never shied away from challenges; was deeply
committed to the
struggle for the betterment of his people's lives; served
his people
with distinction and was loyal to the movement to the very last
day of
his life.

As we mourn his death, we are also celebrating the
extraordinary
qualities that he embodied as a comrade, father, husband, son,
civil
servant and a caring health practitioner.

Cde Sefularo taught us that
our membership to the African National
Congress should, and must not be,
motivated by material gain but a
willingness to serve our people. He
performed whatever responsibilities
the movement tasked him with great pride
and humility. For him,
deployment was not about status but about serving
the people of this
country.
He taught us to serve with commitment and
dedication in the various
areas of work where we are deployed.
Ladies and
gentlemen, indeed, Cde Sefularo left us many lessons from
which to draw
from. There could be no doubt that Sefularo would rest in
peace if all of
us gathered her today were to emulate his good deeds as
we continue with the
struggle to free our people from poverty and
underdevelopment.

We must
ensure that the betterment of the quality of life of millions of
South
Africans through the enhancement of our healthcare and other
services, which
Dr Sefularo dedicated his life fighting for, are speeded
up in honour of his
legacy. We must also as a nation ensure that we hold
a successful World Cup
in honour of his memory. As a Deputy Minister, he
worked to position South
Africa as a destination of choice for the
medical healthcare ahead of the
World Cup.
Painful as it is to lose a man of the caliber of Dr Sefularo, we
must
nevertheless draw inspiration and embrace the attitude from
that
Japanese writer Kenji Miyazawa, who once said: "We must embrace pain
and
burn it as fuel for your journey".

To the Sefularo family, particularly
Mme Kgomotso, (and children) Chere,
Bonolo, Masechaba and Ipeleng, parents
and parents in law - I wish on
behalf of the ANC to thank you immensely for
the strength, support and
understanding, which enabled Dr Sefularo to
surrender and commit his
life to the ANC and to the betterment of the lives
of our people.
We who remain behind shall dare not betray the rich legacy
comrade
Sefularo left for all of us. We shall pick up the spear and
continue
with the struggle until all our people have a better life