Deputy President David Mabuza will tomorrow, 18 April 2018, address the Special Official memorial service for the late liberation struggle stalwart, former Minister of Social Development and High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and Ireland, Dr Zola Themba Skweyiya, in Pretoria.

Dr Skweyiya, who passed away on 11 April 2018, has served the country selflessly and with distinction during his tenure as Minister of Public Service and Administration from 1994 to 1999 and later served as Minister of Social Development before retiring as a Member of Parliament in 2009.

In the same year, 2009, he was appointed a High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and Ireland, a position that acknowledged the long period Dr Skweyiya had spent in exile during the apartheid era.

Deputy President Mabuza has once again extended his heartfelt condolences to the Skweyiya family and the African National Congress on the passing of one of South Africa’s most respected struggle veterans and human rights activist. 

President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared a Special Official Funeral, Category 1 for Dr Skweyiya and ordered that the National Flag be flown at half-mast at all flag stations countrywide and at South African Diplomatic Missions abroad until the evening of 21 April 2018, the day of the funeral.

President Ramaphosa will deliver the eulogy at the Special Official funeral service on Saturday, 21 April 2018, at the CRC Church in Pretoria East.

The details of the memorial service are as follows:
Date:  Wednesday, 18 April 2018
Time: 12h00
Venue: Hall J, Tshwane Events Centre, Pretoria
 
Media enquiries: 
Khusela Diko (Spokesperson to the President)
Cell: 072 854 5707

Tyrone Seale
Cell: 083 575 7440