2 days ago
Hundreds bid farewell to ‘daughter of District Six' Theresa Solomon
Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis offered his condolences to Solomon's family and friends. He was a young boy when she served her term as mayor.
Though he had never met her, Hill-Lewis said, many people spoke highly of her and she had shown courageous leadership as a mayor in a young democracy.
'I knew not only her professional history — her civic activism of the '70s and '80s, her involvement in the UDF, her entry into formal politics as an ANC candidate in 1994, her terms as deputy mayor and mayor of Cape Town and her diplomatic career afterwards — I also knew what people said about her, and how she was regarded in her community.
'This combination of principled toughness coupled with a motherly care and empathy made her a force for good in her community, and for the city of Cape Town. She led this city during a period when no-one had any certainty where our country was headed, and whether our democratic miracle would last.
'I think people forget how new and strange that time was for everyone in South Africa, and how challenging it must've been to steer a metro of this size and complexity through those waters,' Hill-Lewis said.
A police parade was held after the service and the band played Abide By Me before the coffin was carried into the hearse.
President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a special provincial category two funeral and instructed that the national flag fly at half-mast in the Western Cape on Saturday.
After the service, Mbalula told the media that Solomon was a servant leader. 'She was an example of good governance and we are very proud of that,' he said.
