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TRIBUTE TO THE LATE SENATOR TED KENNEDY

My dear friends and fellow South African,

It falls to a chosen few ? and only a few - to capture the truth of
their times in simple, uncluttered, but unforgettable terms. The
reaction to the death of Senator Ted Kennedy not just across that
arsenal of democracy called America, but the entire world provides
testimony to the fact that he was one such man. He wore the golden,
but tragic, mantle of the Kennedy legacy with élan and grace to the end.

My motion to parliament yesterday, I hope, contained Kennedy's simple truths:

I move without notice that the House notes with sadness that Senator
Ted Kennedy has passed away -

(1) notes Senator Kennedy, who many in this House were proud to call a
friend, cared deeply for this country and took up the liberation cause
with aplomb and distinction in the American corridors of power and
across the free world;

(2) further notes that Senator Kennedy gave expression to the liberal
democratic credo, which transcends any political party, that all
humans are made in the image of God, and that a 'tolerance of others',
a 'generosity of spirit' and a 'love of freedom' are the cornerstones
of the civilized society;

(3) recognises that because he knew, to borrow the elegant words of
his late brother President John F. Kennedy, 'the midnight as well as
the high noon, because he understood the ordeal as well as the triumph
of the human spirit', he gave people in South Africa, as well as the
people of the United States, and many others across the world,
strength with which to overcome despair; and

(4) holds true that as the last journey of this faithful pilgrim took
him beyond the sunset, and as heaven's morning broke, Senator Kennedy
has left us a legacy of social justice to guide us as we continue to
toil in the twilight.

When I saw him on television, just two weeks ago, receiving, with our
own Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu,
the Medal of Freedom award from President Barack Obama, I thought that
he might be beating his cancer. If anyone could, he could. Mortal
illness had clearly not dimmed Kennedy's star.

In South Africa we knew him as a good friend, too. But naturally it
was his elder brother Robert who came here first in July 1966. The two
brothers shared the same boyish zest for life, sparkling humour and
that inimitable dry Boston penchant for straight-talking. These were
clearly Kennedy traits because when, years later, Jackie Kennedy's
partner Maurice Templesman brought 'John John' (JFK's and Jackie's
son) to meet me in Ulundi, I found him just the same.

Robert and I quickly became friends and we remained so until his
tragic death two years later. In a Durban dinner party for Robert were
Archbishop Denis Hurley, Dr AE Lazarus, Dr Edgar Brookes, Alan Paton,
Knowledge Guzana, Dr EG Malherbe, Leo Boyd, the American counsel and
his wife, Mr and Mrs WD Toomey and myself. During dinner, Alan turned
to Robert and deadpanned: 'Four of us here are passportless citizens'
(Lazarus, Paton, Guzana and me).

I met Ted Kennedy for the first time when I was in the States in 1971.
The senator, unlike his liberal counterparts here, supported
sanctions. He told me matter-of-factly that the South African sugar
quota to America had only been saved by two votes. I can be as
plain-speaking as an Irish Bostonian, too. I replied 'Oh, you nearly
did wonders, but please in future don't do it, because it is going to
harm us.'

Fifteen years later, in January 1985, I again met with the Senator in
South Africa. Times had changed. In the intervening years, his career
had been blighted by the Chappaquiddick tragedy and the vilification
campaign against me was in full swing. The Senator could not make up
his mind whether he should meet with me privately or publicly, if at
all. A meeting was agreed at the Royal Hotel in Durban.

I spoke to Kennedy of my frustration at President PW Botha's
intransigent refusal to take negotiations with blacks further and why,
in any case, serious negotiations was impossible whilst so many black
leaders, including Mr Nelson Mandela, were still in prison. I also
told him that I believed that the siren calls for disinvestment were
'madness'.

Anyway, after the meeting, I asked Kennedy to exit with me through the
main door of the hotel. There, we were greeted by hundreds of Inkatha
Youth League members carrying placards against sanctions. A friend of
mine, who accompanied Kennedy to the airport, told me afterwards that
the Senator called me 'that son of a bitch' three times en route. I
could only laugh.

As South Africans, we, perhaps, more than any nation, will appreciate
how Kennedy became the Democrat party's leading champion of liberalism
focusing his energies on health care, education, civil rights and
immigration. As Obama said in his tribute yesterday: 'For five
decades, virtually every major piece of legislation to advance the
civil rights, health and economic well being of the American people
bore his name and resulted from his efforts'.

I would also add my observation that in the year that he was a viable
candidate for President, his liberalism was not a viable philosophy.
So it can be said that in the year of his passing, his political
vision has come to pass in the Age of Obama. In that sense, the
Kennedy inheritance has been secured for this and future generations.

Kennedy also demonstrated to us the merits of authentic bipartisanship
and the value of friendship across party lines.

Hamba Khale Senator Kennedy!

Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi MP