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It is indeed my honour to pay my party, the DA's respect to President Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela.

Bawo!

Uhlobo ozichaza ngalo indlela okhule Ngayo eQunu, iyayi Chukumisa intliziyo yam nje ngomni was-Empuma Kapa.

Your colourful description of growing up in a rural village resonates with many of us.

"I was born free ... to run in the fields ... to swim in the clear stream that ran through my village, to roast mealies under the stars and ride the broad backs of slow moving bulls ......" shows an innocent naivety which soured when you later came to learn that this freedom was an illusion under colonial and apartheid repression.

You Sir were able to turn circumstances designed to degrade and destroy you and your people into a triumph over adversity. You taught us also "that the oppressor needs to be liberated just as much as the oppressed, that a man full of hatred is a prisoner behind the bars of his prejudice and has been robbed just as surely of his humanity".

It is a matter of national importance that we as members of this House continue to strive to set an example by adhering to the moral direction that became your loadstar.

I would like to read a part of a poem entitled - A Song of Praise by Antjie Krogg.

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela.

You gather the panels

Of a torn land

You stitch up the hearts

Of black, brown and white

You turn us toward each other for one another.

You, tracker of hearts

You, healer of people

So we shall establish peace

Peace, the mother of great nations

We are here not only to pay tribute to our iconic statesman but to commit ourselves to observing his contribution to humanity. We have all observed you display unique humanitarianism even in your venerable age by showing devoted care for those less fortunate than ourselves, to establishing funds and homes for your beloved children and by your unconditional love of those infected and affected by HIV and Aids.

Nelson Mandela means so much to all of us. To me he exemplifies reconciliation, to my son who went to school in 1994 he represents true freedom and democratic hope. To my colleague, the Hon Dr Wilmot James who co-edited this Book "from Freedom to the future", from which incidentally the hon. Pallo Jordan quoted last week, he adores and respects the man because he lives by his word and embraces others with love. I could go on and on but rather the symbolically significant 67 DA members of the National Assembly and 10 colleagues from the NCOP will pay our collective respect to Nelson Mandela by committing ourselves to dedicate at least 67 minutes every 18th July to assisting and providing extraordinary care and support to the needy communities in our constituencies with special attention to institutions caring for the children and the aged in our society.

We are inspired by what you have done for these marginalized people and will do all in our power to keep your legacy alive long after you are taken from us. You said that you where moved to serve by the tales of valour of your ancestors who fought wars in defence of your fatherland, by people like Dingane, Bambatha, Hintsa, Makana, Ndlambe, Sekhukhuni and others - we too are moved to serve by your example of service and reconciliatory nation building.

However allow me to remind this assembly of what we actually need to do to pay honest tribute to Nelson Mandela and to succeed.

We will be fooling ourselves if we think 67 minutes a year is enough to bring to fruition Madiba's dream. We and the ANC in particular must honour and implement Madiba's philosophy and ideals everyday of the year.

The DA believes in an open opportunity society for all, where people can reach their full potential by improving their skills to allow them to follow their dreams. The Government must promote and expand equal opportunities for all, an environment where no one is held back by arbitrary criteria such as gender, religion or colour or the prejudice of those in power.

Let me illustrate that President Mandela too believes in an open opportunity society for all, but that the actions of the current ANC represent the opposite.

About human rights Madiba says:

"South Africa's foreign relations will be based on our belief that human rights should be the core concern of foreign relations. South Africa will not be indifferent to the rights of others. Human rights will be the light that guides our foreign affairs.

At the moment our foreign affairs policy is guided by political solidarity with former liberation movements and anti Western sentiments. The consequences of which is that human rights take a back seat to appeasement and compromise. This happened constantly under President Mbeki's watch. Now too under President Zuma, our failure to condemn the African Union for ignoring the international criminal courts warrant of arrest for Sudanese President, Omar al-Bashir is an indication of unacceptable tolerance for violators of human rights.

About competing views, Madiba says:

"Truth does indeed have immense power, yet it remains extremely elusive. No single person, no body of opinion, no political or religious doctrine, no political party or government can claim to have a monopoly on truth. For that reason truth can be arrived at only through the untrammelled contest between and among competing opinions, in which as many viewpoints as possible are given a fair and equal hearing".

The current ANC believes it alone is able to identify and articulate the truth, dissenting opinion is stifled and the notion of a market place of ideas is shunned and deligitimised.

The ongoing SABC fiasco is a classic case in point, the ANC idea of a media appeals tribunal, the dormant protection of information bill and the possibility of an ANC run and owned newspaper all bear testimony to the current over zealous hegemonic intentions of the latter day ANC.

About providing opportunities and basic services Madiba says:

"Let there be justice for all. Let there be peace for all. Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all. Let each know that for each, the body, the mind and the soul have been freed to fulfil themselves".

The current growing civil unrest and protest has been ignited by the dysfunctional sphere of local government where service delivery has all but collapsed. Justice and basic services are not accessible to all but rather a few. The prospects of individuals are dependant on their links and access to the small leadership network. The leadership promotes and protects the network and in return they promote and protect the leadership. This results inevitably in corruption and power abuse. The recent AG report implicating 2000 civil servants for being involved in tender rigging to their benefit is the classic example of the closed crony society of the ANC.

If the ANC could just once again embrace the ideals that our iconic, Nelson Mandela embodied it would have achieved much and honoured him appropriately.