Tributes pour in for ANC’s Skweyiya

Leaders of the ANC and opposition party politicians on Wednesday paid tribute to late veteran politician Zola Skweyiya, who has been described as a champion of the poor and an exemplary leader.

Leaders of the ANC and opposition party politicians on Wednesday paid tribute to late veteran politician Dr Zola Skweyiya, who has been described as a champion of the poor and an exemplary leader.

Skweyiya was a member of the country’s first democratic cabinet in 1994 as minister of public service and administration and took up the social development portfolio in 1999. There he was responsible for establishing the state’s social security agency.

He died while in a Pretoria hospital on Wednesday morning after a long illness.

The ANC, still mourning the death of one of its most notable stalwarts, Winnie MadikizelaMandela, said it was saddened to once again be dipping its banners in mourning.

Skweyiya was a founding member of the ANC’s constitutional committee in 1986 and went on to take part in the country’s constitutional negotiations during the Codesa process.

He also served as a high commissioner in the UK and Northern Ireland and on his return remained active in the ANC’s veteran structures, according to the party.

Albie Sachs said on behalf of the Oliver and Adelaide Tambo Foundation that Skweyiya had a strong, independent mind and was a person of generosity.

“If ever there was a stalwart it was Zola Skweyiya. When Oliver Tambo established the ANC’s constitutional committee in 1986 … Dr Zola Skweyiya was its deputy chair.”

Skweyiya’s family spokesman, Dr Khulu Mbatha, said many ANC leaders and members, including party president Cyril Ramaphosa and former president Thabo Mbeki, had planned to visit him in hospital on Wednesday.

Details of his memorial service and funeral would be made available later in the week, Mbatha said.