President Cyril Ramaphosa has placed the strength of South Africa’s democracy in the founding anti-apartheid activists such as Aziz Pahad.
The president says despite the death of some of the country’s liberation fighters, the democracy that they fought for remains strong.
He delivered the eulogy at the Special Official Funeral of the late Pahad at the Westpark Cemetery.
Pahad died on Wednesday at his Johannesburg home at the age of 82.
He has been hailed for fighting for a non-racial and equal South Africa.
Pahad held public and secret transition talks with different role players in order to end apartheid.
This eventually led to the release of political prisoners like Nelson Mandela and others.
He also played a key part in negotiating South Africa’s transition to democracy.
Ramaphosa says while the country may be shaken by Pahad’s death, the democracy he fought for remains intact.
“At times such as this one, when we lose another stalwart, we are shaken as would a tree whose roots have been damaged or lost. These men and women, of whom Aziz Pahad was one, were the roots that nourished the tree of our democracy but were the very roots that lie deep in South African soil to hold our democracy intact. With comrades like Aziz now gone, it does feel like a part of us has gone with them. And yet, such is the legacies that they left behind that this great tree that is our democracy continues.”
GALLERY: Aziz Pahad funeral:
