Date: 14/05/2003
Source: Western Cape Provincial Government
Title: Van Schalkwyk: Memorial service for Walter Sisulu


SPEECH BY THE WESTERN CAPE PREMIER, MARTHINUS VAN SCHALKWYK, ADDRESSING THE OFFICIAL WESTERN CAPE MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR WALTER SISULU, Cape Town, 14 May 2003

Isithwalandwe Walter Sisulu - Ikhwezi Lomso

The Nguni word for dawn is kuyasa. Before the dawn there is always a signal that the night is over, that the darkness has almost passed, and that day is approaching. This signal is Ikhwezi Lomso - the bright early morning star. Walter Sisulu was, for South Africa, our living Ikhwezi Lomso. His appearance and his influence heralded the first light of the New South Africa. His life was the bright promise of our shining future as a country united.

Today we remember Walter Sisulu. We celebrate his life. We mourn his passing. Above all we honour him for the contribution he made to shape the course of our destiny. Like the late Govan Mbeki and others, Walter Sisulu was Isithwalandwe - the title bestowed by his movement on those heroes of South Africa who distinguish themselves in the eyes of all people for exceptional leadership and heroism.

Walter Sisulu spent a large part of his life in the Western Cape - although it was not by choice. For 25 years he lived the worst hardships of Robben Island in full view of some of the best parts of the Cape. Despite this hardship, his spirit remained unyielding. His warmth and his generosity was so much a part of his character that those who shared his imprisonment as Tata Sisulu - father of the island, will always remember him. For the role he played in shaping so many of our leaders today it would also be apt to remember him as one of the fathers of our nation.

There is a remarkable plant, which grows in parts of South Africa. Our people know it as uvuka kwabafileyo or the resurrection bush (in Afrikaans bergboegoe or opstandingsbos). What makes it so remarkable is how it appears to be dry - without life - for the longest time. But at the first sign of rain it unfolds and grows green and powerful. The power of South Africa is the power of unexpected change, of unpredicted growth and of unforeseen life. This is the same power contained within the life of people like Walter Sisulu, who lived through decades of drought but who held within them the seeds of change.

On behalf of the Government and the people of the Western Cape, where the spirit of real non-racialism has been reborn, where we continue to show that black, white, coloured and Indian South Africans succeed best when we take hands and build together, we honour his memory. To his family, friends, and colleagues we offer our condolences and our prayers - but also our thanks for allowing this great son of South Africa to belong as much to us as to them.

Those of us who were not part of the struggle must be able to interpret the struggle and the heroes of that struggle as part of our common history. The best way that I, coming from the Afrikaans community, can understand and explain Walter Sisulu to the Afrikaans community, his role and what he meant, is by comparing him with one of the greatest heroes from Afrikaans history and the Anglo-Boer War, General Christiaan de Wet. The Afrikaans poet, Jan Cilliers, wrote about him:

Stil, broers,
daar gaan 'n man verby, hy groet, en dis verlaas
Daar's nog maar