TRIBUTE BY OF THE NORTH WEST, PROF TEBOGO ON THE OCCASION OF THE MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR THE LATE MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS, BOMO EDNA EDITH MOLEWA, HELD IN PRETORIA ON WEDNESDAY, 03 OCTOBER 2018

Programme Director,

The late Minister Molewa’s family,

President Cyril Ramaphosa,

Deputy President David Mabuza,

Ministers and Deputy Ministers,

Premiers of the various provinces,

Members of the Diplomatic Corps,

Fellow South Africans,

Ladies and gentlemen.

Let me say from the onset that on behalf of the people of the North West Province, we wish to convey our sincerest condolences to the friends, family, comrades and all those that have had an opportunity to know and work with the late Minister Molewa.

We, in the North West, are indeed very proud to have had her as one of our own and she today remains one of the stars to shine brightest coming from our province; we shall forever cherish her contribution to the development and growth of our province and country.

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From the advent of our democratic dispensation, Minister Molewa had distinguished herself as an outstanding leader of our people; this was a comrade who was selfless in sharing her knowledge and experience from the trade union movement with her peers the first administration of this democratic government as she displayed good leadership skills and the ability to build long lasting relationships between the provincial government, organised labour and the workers during the early years of our government.

It was during this time that she made significant contributions to the public service in the North West – serving in various sub-committees of the Provincial Cabinet or Executive Council (EXCO) as it is commonly referred to – and for that we shall forever be grateful and appreciative to her activism at the time; something that was unheard of in the public service in the neck of our woods.

Mr President, like a cog in a wheel, Minister Molewa fitted in so well as part of a team of MECs that was ably led by Dr Popo Molefe at the time and she understood her role as the second MEC for Agriculture in a rural province such as the North West; where she managed to amalgamate the old Bophuthatswana Agriculture department as well as the of the Western Transvaal and the Northern portion of the Cape Province – into one provincial department of Agriculture and Conservation.

This is where her love for the environment and conversation was nurtured and it became her lifelong commitment to this beautiful country.

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Fellow South Africans, as the first female and second Premier of the North West, she managed to put the province on a growth trajectory; a period where allegations of rampant, glaring corruption were few and far.

In addition, ladies and gentlemen, was a perpetual student and this was always evident in the manner in which she approached EXCO meetings – both under former Premier Popo Molefe as well under her own watch – she was always willing to listen and learn from others but her contribution was always an immense one in that huge classroom we call EXCO.

She was a true proponent of EACH ONE, TEACH ONE. Indeed, she believed in the capabilities of her peers and colleagues to make the North West a better province for all its people.

Comrade President, I am certainly sure that in one way or the other, at some point or the other, Minister Edna Molewa has touched the lives of the people gathered here today as well as the lives of many South Africans in more ways than we can remember; to an extent that one can actually speak until sunset however, her greatest lesson to us what to serve her people selflessly.

She was a mother, a sister, a friend, a wife, a comrade, a leader, a committed conservationist but her contribution to the struggles of our people had eventually made her a citizen of the world and for that, we shall be forever grateful for having walked this earth in her times.

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Ours was indeed a blessed province to have had a leader of her calibre to be entrusted, by our beloved movement, with the various leadership roles that she occupied where she has left an indelible mark in the lives of the people of the North West in particular and in general.

May her dearly departed soul rest in eternal peace.

I thank you.

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