The nation says goodbye

A MOVING tribute by the children of late Public Service and Administration Minister Collins Chabane during a memorial service in Pretoria yesterday had their mother in tears.

Chabane's grief-stricken wife Khensani could not hold back her tears when her son Matimba, who had her sister Tsakani next to her, told her she does not need to feel the pressure of being both a mother and father to them now that Chabane was gone.

Matimba, who affectionately referred to his father as "my old man", said he was "not gone but still around us and in our hearts".

"Nothing is going to change, you don't need to be a mother and a father. Your role as a mother has been more than enough," he said.

"To me and my sister, he was everything. We aspire to be like him. He was a good husband based on how much my mother loves him. He was a father to me and my sister we will eternally be grateful for."

Chabane and two of his bodyguards, sergeants Lesiba Sekele and Lawrence Lentsoane, were killed instantly when they crashed into a truck on the N1 near Polokwane on Sunday morning.

Khensani sat next to a family member on her right and Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and his wife Tshepo on her left. AU chairwoman Nkosazana Dlamini- Zuma, first ladies Bongi Ngema-Zuma and Thobeka Madiba-Zuma sat behind with the siblings.

Jazz musician Don Laka took to the stage to play Hamba kahle Mkhonto weSizwe. This brought tears to most of the mourners.

Madiba-Zuma at some point rushed out of the venue with tears streaming down her cheeks.

Ayanda Dlodlo, who was Chabane's deputy, described him as a "decent and humble human being". She sobbed, struggling to finish the speech she was delivering on behalf of the ANC.

Ramaphosa bemoaned how Chabane died at a time when he was trying to build a new kind of public servant which he was a perfect example of. "It is difficult to remain a man of the people while wearing a robe of power. Collins Chabane showed us that."

He will be buried tomorrow.