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13 April 2009

Master of ceremonies
His Excellency former President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and Mrs Mbeki
Her Excellency Deputy President Baleka Mbete of South Africa
Her Excellency Former Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka of South Africa
Ministers and Deputy Ministers
Premier of the Free State, Beatrice Marshoff
Premiers and MECs
Members of the National Executive Committee of the African National Congress
The leadership of South African Communist Party (SACP), Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and South African National Civics Organisation (SANCO)
Esteemed business and community leaders
Our religious leaders and friends
Ladies and gentlemen

It is with deep sadness and a shared sense of loss that we gather here to pay tribute to the late Dr Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, an esteemed patriot to whom the struggle for justice and equality meant the attainment of human dignity and a better life for all the people of South Africa.

We take this moment to express our heartfelt condolences to her family, relatives, friends and comrades who have lost an outstanding family member, a pillar of strength and a tireless servant of the people of South Africa.
More than just being a Minister, she was also a mother and a teacher to many who crossed her path. The icy hand of death has snuffed out a life that has served to illuminate our way as a Government, as the people, as a region and indeed as citizens of the world.

In the wake of this deprivation we who remain behind have the challenge to follow its enduring glow or risk veering off into perpetual darkness.
Will there be another Sis Ivy, to whom the cause of dignity for all humanity, especially the poor, the oppressed and the disabled defined her life!
We do know that the answer to this rhetorical question is, No! But in cherishing her memory and following her noble example, we shall ensure that she lives on; her spiritual being propagated for generations to come in the attainment of that which is good for South Africans and for humanity.

In this regard, we shall be heeding the advice of the poet, David Harkins, that:
You can shed tears that they’ve gone or you can smile because they have lived.
You can close your eyes and pray they’ll come back or you can open your eyes and see all they have left you (You Can Shed Tears by David Harkins)
Indeed, if we all open our eyes the way Harkins suggests, we will see that she left us the eternal gift of freedom, which she had lived for all her life.
So all of us are moved by an appreciation of the sheer act of her living, and we are pleased and thankful that she lived among us.

The multi-faceted nature of Apartheid oppression was unique and accordingly, called for unique forms of struggle. The immense courage and suffering of our people touched the lives of many, bonding those at home and abroad. The response to apartheid challenged the humanity of non-South Africans just as it touched its direct victims, spawning an unprecedented campaign internationally, to destroy every vestige of apartheid a crime against humanity.

Dr Matsepe-Casaburri, a dedicated scholar and an intellectual in her own right, was moved in her heart, as strongly as she was compelled by her mind to join forces with fellow oppressed human beings. Thus it was that her first steps toward the struggle were in scholarship. Her contribution in the first instance was founded on the incontrovertible logic of empirical reality that impinged on the lives of the oppressed people of South Africa, with a decided focus on the gender perspective.

She was particularly seized with the burden of women under apartheid and the necessity for women’s equality to ensure genuine liberation. She was a shining example of the dictum that it is never too late to learn. She embarked on further postgraduate studies well past her 40th year and went on to achieve a PhD in Sociology in 1984 at Rutgers University, the State University of New Jersey. Like their counterparts all over the United States, the Rutgers University student body was a prominent player in the anti-apartheid struggle, through their disinvestment campaign that brought many universities that invested in apartheid to a standstill.

Aunt Ivy was at the centre of this campaign. The students roped her in to speak at meetings and workshops on the Rutgers campus at first and then further a field. The African National Congress (ANC) observer at the United Nations soon arranged for her to extend herself to speaking to audiences in other communities. On completion of her studies she could have decided on a convenient academic career in the United State (US). However, with her now close links to the liberation movement she opted for a job as a lecturer with the United Nations Institute for Namibia in Lusaka, where she could be closer to the ANC Headquarters in Lusaka.

There she was drawn even closer to the work of the ANC, becoming a dedicated resource, especially in research to the women’s section of the ANC. At this time she also participated actively in the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa based in Dakar, Senegal. Here again her focus as a sociologist was on gender issues. In Lusaka her home was open to ANC members of all hues and she made an unstinting contribution to the struggle materially and in scholarship. Not least she played a strong role in further strengthening the bond between the ANC and South West African People's Organisation (SWAPO) of Namibia.

Ausi Ivy was an extraordinary woman from Kroonstad, unassuming, determined and unrelenting on matters of principle with quiet dignity and a healthy respect for education and its role in liberation. With the passing on of Minister Matsepe-Casaburri we are indeed the poorer. The government has suffered a severe loss of a veteran who reflected much of our proud history of the struggle for a non-racial, non-sexist, just and democratic nation; a personality of calm bearing who brought reason and rationality to any discussion. Thus her departure leaves a void which only our attachment to her memory can fill. Among the objectives she lived to see realised were the equal rights for women as well as people with disability.

Looking at the fullness of her life, we cannot help but conclude that indeed she loved life and did everything there ever was to be done in an individual’s lifetime to ensure that life was fruitful not only for her but for humanity at large. Therefore wherever she may now reside, she has no sorrow. And us whom she leaves behind cannot but celebrate such a wholesome life as she has lived.
Her long years of exile, the academic and other achievements she registered in the times of deprivation, are a vivid reminder of her strength and courage in difficult moments.

With her professional success, she defied not only the various odds stacked against her, but also the very stereotypes that were held about women. Her achievements and unimpeachable personal conduct served as a model for our young women. Chief among the qualities our young girl-children would do well to emulate from her is education, which stands out as the surest way of all out of the poverty trap.

Dr Matsepe-Casaburri was the first woman to be appointed to the board of the CSIR, the first black person and woman to become chairperson of Sentech, the first woman and black chairperson of the board of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). Ordinarily, we must see these stellar achievements as representative of the abilities of our country’s women.

We must do this bearing in mind that there was never a board or an executive committee under the aegis of Dr Matsepe-Casaburri’s department which did not have 50/50 gender parity. Conditions of gender oppression did not stand in her way but spurred her on to find approaches that would put gender at the top of the agenda. As the first woman Premier of the Free State Province, she set a pace in negotiating uncharted waters of provincial leadership, playing a significant role as a unifier in the politically challenging times.

Her appointment affirmed the belief of our government and her organisation, the
African National Congress in the principles of gender equality, at the time when much of the world was still sceptical about women in leadership. Her tenure as the premier of the Free State set the basis for a smooth and seamless transition for her successors such as Mme Winkie Direko. With the Free State being the only province in South Africa to have been led by three women, we can only be proud that this is the foundation laid through the leadership of Minister Matsepe-Casaburri.

It was she in her poignant words who stated during her appointment as Premier of the Free State Province that, “This, for me is the beginning of a long and arduous road into formal politics, but a road I am willing to travel under the banner of an organisation that led our people to liberation from apartheid. An organisation that has taken responsibility for reconciling South Africa, building unity in diversity, an organisation that has overcome great odds to see its vision and mission accomplished.”

Hers indeed proved to be an unwavering commitment not only to use her political role to improve the lives of the people of South Africa, but to serve her political organization, the ANC with unfailing dedication even during its most trying times. Her appointment as Minister of Communications was a confirmation of her outstanding leadership skills and her capacity to appreciate the critical role of Information and Communication Technology in the advancement of human condition. This includes promulgation of the Electronic Communications Act (ECA) in 2005, which created a new policy and regulatory environment in South Africa.
This Act was heralded globally as being visionary in the light of, amongst others, the convergence of telecommunications, broadcasting, signal distribution and the IT sectors.

She further oversaw the amalgamation of telecommunications and broadcasting regulatory bodies resulting in the formation of the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA), a move that was emulated in many other parts of the world. Under the leadership of Minister Matsepe-Casaburri post offices were modernised to become citizen-centric, technology-driven service outlets.
In brief, she was instrumental in placing information and communications technology (ICTs) for development not only on the South African agenda, but also in that of the region and the world. Amongst others, she led South Africa’s inputs to the world summit on information society impelled by her passion for building an inclusive information society. It is no accident that, among her counterparts on the African continent, she was known as ‘Mama ICT Africa’. She saw ICT as a means to achieve Africa’s developmental goals.

Her passion for Africa’s development and her commitment to and belief in the African Renaissance was a passionate driver of her endeavours. She was known throughout Africa as a leader in the applications of communications technology to socio-economic development, educational empowerment and the advancement of democracy. Among two of the flagship programmes that speak to her efforts are the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) Sub-marine fibre-optic cable programme and the Nepad E-Schools Programme. All along she was straddling both areas of responsibilities, Africa and South Africa, with comfortable ease. On the home front, like all of us who share the concerns of this nation about development, she was most gripped about the acute shortage of skills in the country, particularly in the ICT sector. It was during her tenure that the ICT Charter, which aims to improve the participation of the previously marginalised in the communications sector, was adopted.

Her championing of these developments went a significant mile in proving her mettle as a relentless fighter for equal opportunities for all people. Her strong advocacy and leadership of the migration project of our broadcasting system from analog to digital platforms remains her indelible legacy. Her outlook was not only South African, but continental; to place this continent at the cutting edge of technology and innovation in this globalised world.
Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri would have been the first person to acknowledge that the journey traversed in improving our people’s quality of life is but at its infancy.

She would have been the first to acknowledge that much more still needs to be done, including the lowering of the cost of telecommunications in our country. And, if she were able to defy the stillness of death, she would have egged us on, to ensure that these objectives are met.

So, programme director, yes, we do know that there shall not be Aunt Ivy. But we take solace in the knowledge that a big tree always has offshoots. I believe she leaves behind capable women and men, who will ensure that what she planted will bear fruit in our lifetime.

Fellow South Africans, it worsens our grief to note that Dr Matsepe-Casaburri passed away on the eve of yet another significant stage in our evolving history, our fourth democratic national and provincial elections, just over a week from today. She was active in the efforts to get citizens to exercise their right; and she would have once more used this opportunity to re-affirm the values that she dedicated her life to: that is, a better life for all!

One of the ways in which we can honour her memory is to go out in large numbers to cast our vote on the day. And we should do that in a manner consistent with the values cadres like Dr Matsepe-Casaburri espoused and evinced: discipline, dignity and respect for each other’s constitutional rights. And so, dear friends, it is left to us to pay our lasting respects to one who was an embodiment of humanity, integrity, dignity, kindness, selflessness, style and beauty.

We salute her and dare to celebrate her life, fully cognisant of the fact that the seeds she sowed wherever the vagaries of fate placed her, will blossom into a million flowers long after this sad day has passed. Amelia Burr’s words are appropriate in this hour: “because I have loved life, I shall have no sorrow to die”.

Robala ka khotso ‘Mama ICT Africa’
Robala ka khotso, Motaung.

I thank you

Issued by: The Presidency
13 April 2009
Source: The Presidency (http://www.thepresidency.gov.za/)