Cope sends condolences to Skweyiya family

Paying tribute to the late Zola Skweyiya on Wednesday‚ the Congress of the People (Cope) said veterans of the struggle were gradually departing at a time when their wisdom was needed to guide the nation through turbulent times in the development of the country's democracy.

Struggle veteran Skweyiya died on Wednesday morning at the age of 75.

“Mr. Zola Skweyiya was one of the few leaders of our people who sacrificed the comfort of home‚ family and friends to travel to foreign lands to seek assistance in the just fight for a better South Africa that belongs to all its people‚” Cope chairman Pakes Dikgetsi said.

He said as a young activist in the Congress Movement of the 1950s and 1960s‚ Skweyiya laid the foundation and inspired future generations of young people who followed in their footsteps to pursue the struggle for a non-racial and non-sexist democratic nation.

Dikgetsi said as the first-ever minister for public service and administration under the presidency of Nelson Mandela‚ Skweyiya successfully championed the amalgamation of the previously racially defined public service and administration departments into one single administration for all South Africans.

“We shall always remember his passion and commitment to the principles of ‘Batho Pele’ (People First) as he sought to entrench a culture of service to the people.”

Dikgetsi said Skweyiya knew very well that the majority of the people depended on the democratic state to extricate them from poverty‚ unemployment and inequality.

“Sadly‚ towards the end of last year he publicly bemoaned‚ rightly so‚ the state of public service and administration in our country.

“Today our public services have deteriorated and have been compromised by a careless political leadership motivated by personal self interest‚ greed and a pervasive culture of corruption.”

Dikgetsi said the best and most fitting way to honour the legacy of Skweyiya would be to return the entire public service to the principles of professionalism.