President Cyril Ramaphosa has remembered former National Assembly speaker Frene Ginwala as a pathfinder and a leader in the true sense of the word.
Delivering a eulogy during a memorial service in honour of Ginwala at the Johannesburg City Hall on Tuesday, Ramaphosa said she had been a pioneer throughout her life.
“She was instrumental in setting up the ANC’s first office in exile from which [former ANC leader] Oliver Tambo worked. For three decades, she was a vital part of the movement, whether in Tanzania, whether deported, thrown out or brought in, she did excellently well,” Ramaphosa said.
The president said in whatever platform, Ginwala was an eloquent and persuasive champion of the cause of the South African people.
“With her keen intellect, her measured delivery and her clear articulation of the principles and purpose of our struggle, she felled many a critic and earned many a friend. Through her writings, whether as a journalist, an academic or activist, she provided both incisive critique and clear vision.”
According to the president, Ginwala performed her role as a speaker with diligence, fairness and integrity, and noted that she was always mindful that it was her responsibility to serve the people and to do everything within her means to advance their cause.
Former president Thabo Mbeki and Ginwala’s successor Baleka Mbete joined multitudes of ANC members who sang and danced during the service. Ginwala died at her home in Cape Town on January 12 after she suffered a stroke two weeks earlier. She was 90.
Mac Maharaj, former transport minister in Nelson Mandela’s cabinet, told the gathering that a great tree has fallen.
“She liberated Mozambique, she provided the ANC with three properties in Maputo which originally belonged to her family. In Dar es Salaam, she edited a newspaper called The Spearhead and worked as a stringer for the Guardian newspaper in London,” recalled Maharaj.
Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi also added his voice, saying the ANC members were memorialising the life of one of the greatest icons.
“Ginwala played a significant role in our freedom, she cast the racist regime. We have lost the lioness of our struggle. The one who was brave has left us. Her name stands out like a glittering star in the night,” said Lesufi, noting that Ginwala was polite where politeness was needed, and tough when it was needed to restore sanity.
Ginwala was the speaker of parliament from 1994 to 2004 when she was succeeded by Mbete. After retirement as a speaker, she continued serving in a number of international organisations including UN subsidiaries, as trustee of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, and as chancellor of the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
In September 2007, Mbeki appointed her to conduct an inquiry into the then national director of public prosecutions boss, Vusi Pikoli, on his fitness to hold office.
She decided in favour of Pikoli but criticised poor communication between government departments.
She also criticised the then director-general of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, advocate Menzi Simelane, whose testimony was “contradictory and without basis in fact or law”.
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