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President mourns passing of former Minister of Education | Global News Avenue

President mourns passing of former Minister of Education

President of the Republic of South Africa

President Cyril Ramaphosa has expressed his deep condolences on the death of democratic South Africa’s first Minister of Education, Professor Sibusiso Bengu, at the age of 90.

President Ramaphosa expressed his condolences to the family and friends of Professor Bengu, who served as South Africa’s ambassador to Germany from 1999 to 2003.

President Ramaphosa said: “My heart goes out to Mum Funeka and our family who have been united by this loss.

“Professor Bengu was a pioneer leader in our democratic institutions and administration, leading the democratic national unity government’s transformation of education at a time when there were deep divisions over how far that transformation should go.

“Under apartheid, the injustice of unequal education was at the heart of the intergenerational economic exclusion, poverty and indignity suffered by most citizens.

“The Education Act, framed under Professor Bengu’s leadership and passed by our fledgling Parliament, was the cornerstone of our liberation and unleashed the human potential of all South Africans. It was and still is what sets us apart today as individuals and Levers of empowerment and development seen in community life.

“We are therefore grateful to Professor Bengu for his patriotic and visionary service while serving our country at home and abroad as Ambassador to Germany.

“His legacy is cemented through the Sibuso Bengu Development Plan, which aims to advance historically disadvantaged higher education institutions into strong, socially integrated institutions within a diverse post-school education and training system of institutions.

“Today we thank Professor Bengu for his various contributions to our development which will illuminate our path forward. We also reflect on his life of faith which inspired him to work towards the restoration of all South Africans dignity.

“May his soul rest in peace.”

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of the President of the Republic of South Africa.

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