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MC
Nthabiseng and the Children and the whole Mankahlana Family
Premiers
Ministers
MECs
And all Protocol Observed

Comrade Parks,

We are gathered here at Sisa Dukashe Stadium to bid you farewell and celebrate your illustrious life.

We come from the Northern Cape and Western Cape, from KwaZulu-Natal and the Northern Province, from the North West from Eastern Cape, from the Free State and Mpumalanga to pay our homage and respect to you.

We bring a deep sense of loss and pain from President Thabo Mbeki and former President Mandela. We have came from all corners of our country to pay our respects to you because of the difference you made in our lives and our country. You did so because you belonged to the detachment of our youth of the '80's which displayed the high level of political consciousness, leadership and determination.

This was a detachment that was ready to pay a supreme sacrifice for freedom, peace and democracy. The detachment existed and led the youth when there were no peacetime heroes, and it faced brutal repression and extreme provocation form the apartheid regime. During this era, leadership positions were not a luxury for people to fight about, you knew that you were in the struggle not for glory, material gain or distinction.

Your detachment knew too well that leadership came with responsibility, selflessness and sacrifice. Your detachment knew that when there were problems within our movement, they could debate and resolve the issues within the structures of the organisation, without deserting the movement or using the media. As an instrument to address the issues of the organisation. It was ready to defend the movement and the revolution.

You were ready to protect the organisation's objectives and policies, to defend the people and advance the cause of the revolution. Most importantly, you belonged to a cadre-ship that was always loyal to the movement and our people. You were always ready to be deployed and re-deployed, certainly ready to serve the people in whatever capacity.

We express our sincere hope that those who belonged to this detachment will continue to be a shining example of the best traditions of our movement, wherever they are, and wherever they may be deployed. During the times of the South African youth congress and the mass Democratic movement, when this cadre-ship was part of the leadership in the struggle, political activism within the student movement was different from what it is today. They had inspired the overwhelming majority of students into the struggle.

Comrade, as we bid you farewell, can we say the culture in our youth movement is still inspired by the ideals of our transformation? Can we still say that the commitment to our people and the country still exists? At the same level as it was then?

Can we still say that the imagination of our youth is still fired by the dedication to the cause of our people and our movement? Can we still say that the cadre-ship of our movement is still inspired by the desire to build a tried and tested organisation?

These questions must continue to be addressed as we continue to transform our country and rebuild our society and movement. Comrades and friends, we have raised the above issues with regard to the type of a cadre that comrade Parks was because our movement has broadly recognised that the cadre of comrade Parks's calibre is becoming scarce.

That is why our last NGC focused on the issue of building a new cadre as an answer to this challenge. If we are to honour comrade Parks as our hero, we have to address this challenge of creating a cadre of his calibre. This is a cadre who must be able to advance our revolution by participating selflessly in the reconstruction of our country and its transformation, and the building of the organisation, which must be part of the building of our new nation.

This challenge falls on all of us, but more especially on the youth of our country. To the family, we are aware of the great pain, suffering and trauma this untimely departure has caused you. It is a pain that is shared by our entire movement and many in our country.

On behalf of the leadership, the entire movement and the government, we convey our heartfelt condolences to you all.

Lalani ngenxeba akwehlanga lungehlanga. To you comrade Parks, Hamba Kahle gorha lesizwe.