Health Minister Doctor Joe Phaahla has described the Member of Parliament Mxolisi Sokhatsha who died in a car crash as a dedicated member of Parliament. 57-year-old Sokhatsha also served as MEC of four portfolios including Health, Social Development, Public Works in the Northern Cape government, before moving to Parliament’s Health Portfolio Committee.
Doctor Phaahla also says Sokhatsha was also a very principled person.
“He was indeed a very dedicated member of parliament for the African National Congress, and very dedicated to his work as a whip and the chairman of the committee. We know that he has done this in the province and now, it was his time, not just to the Northern Cape, not only to the Pixley-Ka-Seme District, but to the whole nation. (He was) very committed to the delivery of health services to the people of South Africa. His passing leaves us with the void in the portfolio committee for health.”
Doctor Phaahla also says Sokhatsha was also a very principled person.
“He was indeed a very dedicated member of parliament for the African National Congress, and very dedicated to his work as a whip and the chairman of the committee. We know that he has done this in the province and now, it was his time, not just to the Northern Cape, not only to the Pixley-Ka-Seme District, but to the whole nation. (He was) very committed to the delivery of health services to the people of South Africa. His passing leaves us with the void in the portfolio committee for health.”
His daughter Milisiwe Sokatsha says her father’s passing has left his family devastated.
“It’s difficult to explain how much our father meant to us. My father was the best father we could have ever asked for. We only had a week to grapple with our father’s death and that has not been enough. It feels as if my father is still on an extended work trip. It feels like a nightmare that is never ending. Nobody could debate like my father. You could never win an argument with my father. The only way you could get out of it, it’s either you accept defeat (sic). My dad pushed and motivated us a lot. He always wanted us to strive for greatness.”
Sokhatsha who died in a car crash last week Friday is being laid to rest in Richmond in the Northern Cape today.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared a special provincial official funeral category-two for the late Member of Parliament.
The crash that took his life happened on the N12 road, 20 kilometres outside Belmont.
Spokesperson to the Northern Cape Premier Bronwyn Thomas-Abrahams says, “The President of the Republic of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa has declared a special provincial official funeral Category 2 for the late Mxolisi Simon Sokatsha. A special provincial official funeral Category 2 is reserved for the distinguished persons specifically designated by the President of South Africa on request by the premier of the province. The president has instructed that the national flag fly at half-mast in the province, as a mark of respect for the late Mxolisi Simon Sokatsha.”
