WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION BY THE EXECUTIVE MAYOR OF THE SEDIBENG DISTRICT MUNICIPALITY CLLR. MAHOLE SIMON MOFOKENG DURING THE HANDOVER OF GERT SIBANDE’S FAMILY HOUSE, GOLDEN GARDENS

19 AUGUST 2015

• Our Deputy Minister of Human Settlements, Honourable Mme Zoliswa Kota-Fredericks;

• Programme Director, Ward Councillor, comrade Mthuzimela Sikukula;

• The Sibande family;

• The Executive Mayor of the Emfuleni Local Municipality, Cllr. Mme Greta Hlongwane;

• The leadership of the ANC Sedibeng other stakeholders which are here present with us today;

• Ladies and gentlemen and the people of Sedibeng

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I welcome you all to this philanthropic ceremony of the handing over of a house to the family representatives of the late stalwart and veteran of the African National Congress (the pride of the people of ), comrade Richard "Gert" Sibande, who during his lifetime was popularly known as the " Lion of the East ."

Honourable Zoliswa Kota-Fredericks, I am also welcoming you to the region of Sedibeng, home to our liberation struggle and a place of opportunities as you would have noticed. Honourable Deputy Minister, this is a place that began and ended the fight for the liberation struggle – from the Sharpeville massacre to the signing of our democratic Constitution. Today, as we celebrate Women’s Month, we take pride when we look back at the contributions of people such as the Lion of the East . Their efforts and selfless contributions were indeed not in vain.

In 1996 Tata Mandela signed our Constitution right here in our shores in Sharpeville. Next month, as you all know we will be commemorating the 31 st anniversary of the massacre that took place on September 3 1984 and ignited our country.

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In a nutshell, this means that comrade Sibande is one of our own. He left Bethal and came to the region of Sedibeng in Evaton before he was banished in Komatipoort. He was born in Ermelo in 1901 and joined the ANC in 1942. He was responsible for forming the Bethal branch and later became its Chairperson. As a farm labourer in the Bethal district, his organizing skills became evident in the 1930s. He founded a farm workers' association and became an instrumental leader of the ANC.

As a grassroots leader, he was rooted among the rural masses of the Eastern Transvaal who admired and respected him. He organized the farm workers and also participated actively in the Defiance Campaign of 1952.

Comrade Sibande is associated with the Potato Boycott of 1959 and was at the centre during this campaign. He was also instrumental in bringing to the fore the appalling working conditions that the farm workers of the then Eastern Transvaal () were subjected to.

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He together with comrade raised the awareness about the appalling conditions that farm workers were living in, in 1947. He brought the attention of the inhumane living and working conditions of potato-farm workers both nationally and internationally. This resulted to a successful boycott of potatoes, the nutritious product.

Programme Director , we are here because of a gallant fighter who dedicated his entire life to the struggle to better the lives of farm workers. He was part of the collective who transformed the ANC to a vibrant and popular mass movement of the 1950's.

His background prepared him for the central role he was to play in the struggle for the emancipation of the people. Comrade Sibande played an instrumental role in the campaign against the introduction of Bantu Education, and was part of a build-up and the actual drafting of the which we celebrated its six decades of existence in June.

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Programme Director , we thank the Department of Human Settlements for their continuous intervention where it is needed the most. We know that a shelter remains one of the basic needs. Today we are handing over a house to the family of late comrade Sibande and this symbolizes the acknowledgment from the government of this selfless servant of the people.

The Honourable Deputy Minister will elaborate further on this project. Before she comes to talk to us, let me briefly tell you about this mbokodo. Comrade Zoliswa Kota-Fredericks is the Human Settlements Deputy Minister. She was appointed the Deputy Minister of Human Settlements in 2009.

She became involved in politics during the 1976 student riots at Langa High School in Cape Town. She also became an active member of numerous organisations including the Ikhwezi Community Centre in Gugulethu; Young Christian Workers; AZASO; COSAS and the Cape Youth Congress. She also served as the first secretary of the United Women’s Organisation and a Student Representative in the Island of Youth in Cuba.

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The Deputy Minister was also a Publicity Secretary for the United Democratic Front in the Western Cape, leading to her detention under the apartheid government’s notorious Section 29.

She left the country to join the ANC’s Umkhonto we Sizwe in Lesotho and also received military training in Angola and the Soviet Union. During the transitional negotiations at CODESA, she was one of the delegates of the Gender Advisory Committee (GAC). She later became a Provincial Chairperson of the ANC Women’s League in the Western Cape and represented the Women’s League at the Progressive Women’s Movement.

Deputy Minister Kota-Fredericks has been a member of the ANC Provincial Executive Committee since 1992. She was deployed to Parliament after the 1994 general elections where she served on the Defence Portfolio Committee, Joint Standing Committee on Defence, and Sport and Recreation Portfolio Committee.

She was a Whip of the Defence Portfolio Committee, served on an Ad-hoc Committee to select Gender Commissioners, Ad-hoc 6

Committee that formulated the legislation on the National Youth Commission and the selection of Youth Commissioners

Comrade Kota-Fredericks studied Social Work at the University of the Western Cape where she also obtained the Baccalaurelis Economicae (Honours), and an Advanced Diploma in Economic Policy. Her qualifications also include certificates in Economics and Public Finance from UNISA; Project Management from the University of Stellenbosch and the Senior Executive Programme for Southern Africa from Wits and Harvard Business Schools.

Ladies and gentlemen , I now call the Deputy Minister for Human Settlements, the Honourable Zoliswa Kota-Fredericks to come and speak to us as I welcome you once again to the region of Sedibeng.

I thank you.

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