Date: 05/11/2006
Source: KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
Title: Ndebele: Funeral service of T Mngomezulu
Speech delivered by Premier of KwaZulu-Natal Mr Sbu Ndebele, at the funeral service of Mr Thulasizwe Mngomezulu, Pietermaritzburg
Greetings and acknowledgements
We are assembled here today to bid farewell to the beloved Mr Thulasizwe Mngomezulu. Seven days ago we were informed and quite sadly so, that his life had been tragically ended on the corner of Boshoff and Church streets in Pietermaritzburg. As we mourn his death today we recall of a writer, a researcher, a heritage and culture expert, a linguist, who was somebody’s son, a member of the community, a member of the church and a senior civil servant, is lying motionless and soulless. Thulasizwe Mngomezulu is dead.
He was a simple man who distasted materialism. His was a true life of an intellectual, spent mostly in the generation of knowledge and thought. He left an indelible mark on all who came across him. Speaker after speaker has highlighted this fact. When you listen to all the speeches and you recall your own encounter with him you begin to wonder as to why such a man had to be killed so brutally. Our people mourn, our government mourns and the civil service mourns. The province has lost a thinker and a patient provider of knowledge and information.
The family is mourning the loss of its head and I say to his wife, children, mother, friends and relatives: Be strong, for God is with you. I comfort you in this, your hour of need and despair. A good man has been killed by senseless criminals, who think they are winning the war. I want to assure you and to send a strong message that says we will have the last word on this matter. We defeated apartheid. We are normalising our society. We will defeat crime. We will mobilise our society against crime and the criminals.
There shall be dawn and there shall be peace. There shall be no criminals roaming our streets and seeking to take the lives of many. This war against crime and the criminals is not over until we win it. We shall win it and good shall triumph over evil. This crime has its roots in history. Many will recall that at the height of apartheid the criminals ruled the trains, the buses, the taxi ranks. Few were ever brought to book.
We are assembled here today to mourn the death of Thulasizwe Mngomezulu because at this, our lowest hour and our hour of need, we are faced by the devastating consequences of years of systematic attack on our dignity. People humiliated for so long such as we were under apartheid and colonialism forgets itself and chooses strange ways of resolving conflict. Today we have reached our lowest level of existence, where we devalue our lives and those of others. The violent crime wave that is confronting us today has its roots in history. It would be a mistake no to consider crime from this historical perspective.
The criminals are on the loose and they think we are losing the war. They are wrong and we are poised to prove them wrong. Our history shows that since 1652 South Africa became characterised by random human slaughter and sponsored loss of dignity for the oppressed. At the height of apartheid and when the police were supposedly most effective, criminal gangs used to torment people in the trains, in the buses, in the streets, everywhere. They did all this tormenting and torture with impunity.
It was rare for the police to arrest these criminals, and Black people had to live with this multi-faceted humiliation. The only people who were arrested and sentenced speedily were the political activists. We have such a history. Torturing and killing innocent people by anyone was often condoned by the state and its organs, as long as it was not political. A culture was born and we live with it today. The culture of rampant human slaughter took roots. It is now fully entrenched in some communities. The new police service under democratic rule is spending sleepless nights combating violent crimes and human slaughter.
Our prisons are full and overflowing because the police are bringing the criminals to book. However, we need other additional forms of social interventions in order to combat crime. There needs to develop a regeneration of morals and values. Such regeneration should include the revisit of our pre-colonial values of life, because, as I have stated earlier, there once was a time in our history when crime and criminality were socially looked down upon and despised by society.
There was once a time in our history when criminals were well isolated by society. If there was a criminal in the area everyone would know and they would keep a close watch on the activities of the criminal. The criminal would feel lonely and isolated and would leave voluntarily. There was once a time in our history when the killing of a human being outside of an official war was regarded as taboo and ultimate cowardice. No pride could be derived from it.
There was a time in our history when the killing of a human being outside of an official war was regarded as the lowest level one would go. There was a time when human blood was sacred, revered and feared. That was the time when the whole idea of violent death outside of a formal war was distasteful and the killer was summarily punished by the social collective. We have lost that time; of values, of dignity, of morality; of love for each other.
We shall regain that time. Crime and the criminals will soon fear not only the law, but also the wrath of the social collective. We will soon re-engineer our communities and the criminals will have nowhere to hide. Thulasizwe was a man of heritage. I move that there is much we can do in the area of the heritage of values, the intangible heritage, in order to honour the life of Mr Thulasizwe Mngomezulu. He was a rising star whose humility was characteristic of an intellectual. His lifestyle was simple. He would harm no one, and yet the criminals took his life.
We should seriously consider revisiting, documenting and recycling our pre-colonial value systems and adapt them for modern use. This should be done as part of our integrated strategy to combat crime and immorality. It will soon be important to include culture, traditions and heritage in fighting crime and social violence. Society has these tools and society should use them to drive the criminals out of our communities.
In conclusion I want to re-iterate what I said earlier that it has become clear to all that crime knows no barrier. The criminals are becoming more and more ruthless. Their priorities, which are cell phones, cars and small cash, are reflective of people gone low. Thulasizwe will not be forgotten. The criminals may have robbed us of his physical presence, but his spirit lives on.
Hamba kahle Thulasizwe, imisebenzi yakho ngeke yaqedwa. UNkulunkulu akwelulele isandla. Sibonane kwelizayo.May your soul rest in peace.
Ngiyabonga
Issued by: Office of the Premier, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
5 November 2006
Source: KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
Title: Ndebele: Funeral service of T Mngomezulu
Speech delivered by Premier of KwaZulu-Natal Mr Sbu Ndebele, at the funeral service of Mr Thulasizwe Mngomezulu, Pietermaritzburg
Greetings and acknowledgements
We are assembled here today to bid farewell to the beloved Mr Thulasizwe Mngomezulu. Seven days ago we were informed and quite sadly so, that his life had been tragically ended on the corner of Boshoff and Church streets in Pietermaritzburg. As we mourn his death today we recall of a writer, a researcher, a heritage and culture expert, a linguist, who was somebody’s son, a member of the community, a member of the church and a senior civil servant, is lying motionless and soulless. Thulasizwe Mngomezulu is dead.
He was a simple man who distasted materialism. His was a true life of an intellectual, spent mostly in the generation of knowledge and thought. He left an indelible mark on all who came across him. Speaker after speaker has highlighted this fact. When you listen to all the speeches and you recall your own encounter with him you begin to wonder as to why such a man had to be killed so brutally. Our people mourn, our government mourns and the civil service mourns. The province has lost a thinker and a patient provider of knowledge and information.
The family is mourning the loss of its head and I say to his wife, children, mother, friends and relatives: Be strong, for God is with you. I comfort you in this, your hour of need and despair. A good man has been killed by senseless criminals, who think they are winning the war. I want to assure you and to send a strong message that says we will have the last word on this matter. We defeated apartheid. We are normalising our society. We will defeat crime. We will mobilise our society against crime and the criminals.
There shall be dawn and there shall be peace. There shall be no criminals roaming our streets and seeking to take the lives of many. This war against crime and the criminals is not over until we win it. We shall win it and good shall triumph over evil. This crime has its roots in history. Many will recall that at the height of apartheid the criminals ruled the trains, the buses, the taxi ranks. Few were ever brought to book.
We are assembled here today to mourn the death of Thulasizwe Mngomezulu because at this, our lowest hour and our hour of need, we are faced by the devastating consequences of years of systematic attack on our dignity. People humiliated for so long such as we were under apartheid and colonialism forgets itself and chooses strange ways of resolving conflict. Today we have reached our lowest level of existence, where we devalue our lives and those of others. The violent crime wave that is confronting us today has its roots in history. It would be a mistake no to consider crime from this historical perspective.
The criminals are on the loose and they think we are losing the war. They are wrong and we are poised to prove them wrong. Our history shows that since 1652 South Africa became characterised by random human slaughter and sponsored loss of dignity for the oppressed. At the height of apartheid and when the police were supposedly most effective, criminal gangs used to torment people in the trains, in the buses, in the streets, everywhere. They did all this tormenting and torture with impunity.
It was rare for the police to arrest these criminals, and Black people had to live with this multi-faceted humiliation. The only people who were arrested and sentenced speedily were the political activists. We have such a history. Torturing and killing innocent people by anyone was often condoned by the state and its organs, as long as it was not political. A culture was born and we live with it today. The culture of rampant human slaughter took roots. It is now fully entrenched in some communities. The new police service under democratic rule is spending sleepless nights combating violent crimes and human slaughter.
Our prisons are full and overflowing because the police are bringing the criminals to book. However, we need other additional forms of social interventions in order to combat crime. There needs to develop a regeneration of morals and values. Such regeneration should include the revisit of our pre-colonial values of life, because, as I have stated earlier, there once was a time in our history when crime and criminality were socially looked down upon and despised by society.
There was once a time in our history when criminals were well isolated by society. If there was a criminal in the area everyone would know and they would keep a close watch on the activities of the criminal. The criminal would feel lonely and isolated and would leave voluntarily. There was once a time in our history when the killing of a human being outside of an official war was regarded as taboo and ultimate cowardice. No pride could be derived from it.
There was a time in our history when the killing of a human being outside of an official war was regarded as the lowest level one would go. There was a time when human blood was sacred, revered and feared. That was the time when the whole idea of violent death outside of a formal war was distasteful and the killer was summarily punished by the social collective. We have lost that time; of values, of dignity, of morality; of love for each other.
We shall regain that time. Crime and the criminals will soon fear not only the law, but also the wrath of the social collective. We will soon re-engineer our communities and the criminals will have nowhere to hide. Thulasizwe was a man of heritage. I move that there is much we can do in the area of the heritage of values, the intangible heritage, in order to honour the life of Mr Thulasizwe Mngomezulu. He was a rising star whose humility was characteristic of an intellectual. His lifestyle was simple. He would harm no one, and yet the criminals took his life.
We should seriously consider revisiting, documenting and recycling our pre-colonial value systems and adapt them for modern use. This should be done as part of our integrated strategy to combat crime and immorality. It will soon be important to include culture, traditions and heritage in fighting crime and social violence. Society has these tools and society should use them to drive the criminals out of our communities.
In conclusion I want to re-iterate what I said earlier that it has become clear to all that crime knows no barrier. The criminals are becoming more and more ruthless. Their priorities, which are cell phones, cars and small cash, are reflective of people gone low. Thulasizwe will not be forgotten. The criminals may have robbed us of his physical presence, but his spirit lives on.
Hamba kahle Thulasizwe, imisebenzi yakho ngeke yaqedwa. UNkulunkulu akwelulele isandla. Sibonane kwelizayo.May your soul rest in peace.
Ngiyabonga
Issued by: Office of the Premier, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
5 November 2006
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