Date: 18/03/2004
Source: Ministry of Home Affairs
Title: N Mapisa-Nqakula: Tribute to late Dullah Omar
ADDRESS BY NOSIVIWE MAPISA-NQAKULA, DEPUTY MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS, TRIBUTE TO COMRADE DULLAH OMAR, LAUDIUM, PRETORIA, 18 March 2004
It is a humbling honour to pay tribute to one as worthy as Cde Dullah. I stand, on behalf of the women of our country to express as their mouth out what their hearts have felt.
The people of the Congo have an old saying: "What is said over the dead lion's body, could not be said to him alive." It is presumed and is generally accepted that because of his might, when he is still alive, there are a lot of things that we cannot frankly tell the lion about himself. Not to his face anyway.
Being one who grew up with the wisdom of our elders, I must say that it has been very rare to see a proverb being disproved as is in the case of Abdullah Mohamed Omar, our late beloved Minister of Transport.
Last week at his funeral, the Secretary General of the ANC, Cde Kgalema Motlanthe, describes Cde Dullah as a man of frankness to whom no issue "was a holy cow." You could venture into any discussion with Cde Dullah without fear of anything become personal to him. With this lion, what we have said over his body, were the same things we could say when he was alive. There was never a moment or the need to be too careful with Cde Dullah. It has also been easy to speak about this lion, and over his body because the things we had to say about him are all good things, without exception.
The fact that he did not start as a member of the ANC when he cut his teeth into politics should have understandably made him touchy and sensitive to his own situation amongst these many stalwarts of the ANC that he has come to live with as his comrades. His honesty and genuine approach to the struggle of our people has made it possible for him to provide legal expertise and to represent most our comrades even before he formerly joined the ANC. Cde Nelson Mandela sums him up as a man of integrity. We cannot agree more.
It was therefore most befitting that as then Minister of Justice he was the man anointed to lead the quest for reconciliation amongst our people, and there was never a shred of doubt that under Cde Dullah we had put this delicate process in the safest of hands.
With the wisdom that he has always demonstrated, Cde Dullah could have been anything he wanted to become. Our President describes him as an intelligent man who could hold any of the high positions in the land. When he left the Trafalgar High School, however, his mind was set on becoming a lawyer, to be of service to his people. Nothing went wrong with this plan. For not only did he succeed and qualified for his LLB degree in 1957, but he went on to be the symbol of hope for many of our comrades who were incarcerated in Robben Island. He did this work at serious risk to his life, his career, his family and fatefully at a great risk to his own health. The odds were very much against this young man, who was barely 30 years of age when he was admitted as an attorney, he was not a member of most of the organisations whose leaders he was providing legal advice to, and most dangerously he was standing opposed to a brutal regime whose track record of harassment, torture and even death was well known to Cde Dullah. In order to understand the kind of man he was, you will need to interact with his reasoning for continuing to champion this cause despite all these odds and the risk.
This undisputed, unmediated compassion for other people, has been the reason why Cde Dullah felt that the dawn of freedom for his people was reward enough, too much in fact that it did not have to be supplemented by the acquiring of a posh house in the Ministerial residence or a lavish existence outside the community that he had lived with for all of his life. He was exemplary. He has been good to his people.
Friend and foe alike had praises for this man who even in death continues to symbolise that a man can be great and yet humble. The ANC and its leadership have trusted Cde Dullah with some of the most delicate missions in the reconstruction of our country. Together we have achieved so much in building the kind of society that Cde Dullah has always wanted for all our people. The one task that he leaves with us however is that we stay true to our commitment to defend these achievements and advance in the areas where we have not made progress. And that will be the best send off most comfortable for Cde Dullah, the reassurance to him that our country will never slide back to the mayhem and suffering of our people before our freedom. We lament that he will not see the most jubilant celebration of our tenth anniversary of freedom, but we are certain that he is at peace with what we have achieved so far and his own contribution to it.
Today we mourn with sadness the passing away of Cde Dullah, but we have a lot of reason to celebrate and thank God for his life. Not only because of what Cde Dullah gave to us physically, but also for enormous gifts he has given to us in lessons. We take off our hats, bow our heads in honour of this gallant hero of our people and we feel humbled in the knowledge that one such as him has walked the same soil as us.
May his soul rest in peace.
I thank you.
Issued by: Ministry Of Home Affairs
18 March 2004
Source: Department of Home Affairs (http://www.home-affairs.gov.za)
Source: Ministry of Home Affairs
Title: N Mapisa-Nqakula: Tribute to late Dullah Omar
ADDRESS BY NOSIVIWE MAPISA-NQAKULA, DEPUTY MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS, TRIBUTE TO COMRADE DULLAH OMAR, LAUDIUM, PRETORIA, 18 March 2004
It is a humbling honour to pay tribute to one as worthy as Cde Dullah. I stand, on behalf of the women of our country to express as their mouth out what their hearts have felt.
The people of the Congo have an old saying: "What is said over the dead lion's body, could not be said to him alive." It is presumed and is generally accepted that because of his might, when he is still alive, there are a lot of things that we cannot frankly tell the lion about himself. Not to his face anyway.
Being one who grew up with the wisdom of our elders, I must say that it has been very rare to see a proverb being disproved as is in the case of Abdullah Mohamed Omar, our late beloved Minister of Transport.
Last week at his funeral, the Secretary General of the ANC, Cde Kgalema Motlanthe, describes Cde Dullah as a man of frankness to whom no issue "was a holy cow." You could venture into any discussion with Cde Dullah without fear of anything become personal to him. With this lion, what we have said over his body, were the same things we could say when he was alive. There was never a moment or the need to be too careful with Cde Dullah. It has also been easy to speak about this lion, and over his body because the things we had to say about him are all good things, without exception.
The fact that he did not start as a member of the ANC when he cut his teeth into politics should have understandably made him touchy and sensitive to his own situation amongst these many stalwarts of the ANC that he has come to live with as his comrades. His honesty and genuine approach to the struggle of our people has made it possible for him to provide legal expertise and to represent most our comrades even before he formerly joined the ANC. Cde Nelson Mandela sums him up as a man of integrity. We cannot agree more.
It was therefore most befitting that as then Minister of Justice he was the man anointed to lead the quest for reconciliation amongst our people, and there was never a shred of doubt that under Cde Dullah we had put this delicate process in the safest of hands.
With the wisdom that he has always demonstrated, Cde Dullah could have been anything he wanted to become. Our President describes him as an intelligent man who could hold any of the high positions in the land. When he left the Trafalgar High School, however, his mind was set on becoming a lawyer, to be of service to his people. Nothing went wrong with this plan. For not only did he succeed and qualified for his LLB degree in 1957, but he went on to be the symbol of hope for many of our comrades who were incarcerated in Robben Island. He did this work at serious risk to his life, his career, his family and fatefully at a great risk to his own health. The odds were very much against this young man, who was barely 30 years of age when he was admitted as an attorney, he was not a member of most of the organisations whose leaders he was providing legal advice to, and most dangerously he was standing opposed to a brutal regime whose track record of harassment, torture and even death was well known to Cde Dullah. In order to understand the kind of man he was, you will need to interact with his reasoning for continuing to champion this cause despite all these odds and the risk.
This undisputed, unmediated compassion for other people, has been the reason why Cde Dullah felt that the dawn of freedom for his people was reward enough, too much in fact that it did not have to be supplemented by the acquiring of a posh house in the Ministerial residence or a lavish existence outside the community that he had lived with for all of his life. He was exemplary. He has been good to his people.
Friend and foe alike had praises for this man who even in death continues to symbolise that a man can be great and yet humble. The ANC and its leadership have trusted Cde Dullah with some of the most delicate missions in the reconstruction of our country. Together we have achieved so much in building the kind of society that Cde Dullah has always wanted for all our people. The one task that he leaves with us however is that we stay true to our commitment to defend these achievements and advance in the areas where we have not made progress. And that will be the best send off most comfortable for Cde Dullah, the reassurance to him that our country will never slide back to the mayhem and suffering of our people before our freedom. We lament that he will not see the most jubilant celebration of our tenth anniversary of freedom, but we are certain that he is at peace with what we have achieved so far and his own contribution to it.
Today we mourn with sadness the passing away of Cde Dullah, but we have a lot of reason to celebrate and thank God for his life. Not only because of what Cde Dullah gave to us physically, but also for enormous gifts he has given to us in lessons. We take off our hats, bow our heads in honour of this gallant hero of our people and we feel humbled in the knowledge that one such as him has walked the same soil as us.
May his soul rest in peace.
I thank you.
Issued by: Ministry Of Home Affairs
18 March 2004
Source: Department of Home Affairs (http://www.home-affairs.gov.za)
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