Johannesburg | Monday
DECEASED Safety and Security Minister Steve Tshwete will be buried at his hometown Peelton in the Eastern Cape on Saturday, the African National Congress said on Sunday.
He would be laid to rest next to the graves of his parents, ANC Secretary General Kgalema Motlanthe told reporters in Pretoria. Tshwete would be accorded an official funeral.
He died at 1 Military Hospital in Pretoria on Friday where he was being treated for a back ache since April 9.
Motlanthe said Tshwete’s burial would be preceded by a funeral service at Bisho Stadium near King Williams Town. President Thabo Mbeki would be the main speaker at this event.
A send-off service would be held at Tshwete’s ministerial residence in Pretoria on Monday from 9.30am to 10am.
His family would leave for King Williams Town in the afternoon. On Thursday, Tshwete’s body would be flown from 1 Military Hospital to King Williams Town.
On the same day, memorial services would be held at noon in Pretoria, Cape Town and King Williams Town.
”In all others provinces, structures of the ANC have been directed to hold memorial services,” Motlanthe said.
On Saturday morning, a small family service would be held at the Tshwete’s family home in King Williams Town.
The family would by 9am move to Bisho Stadium where the main funeral service would take place.
Tshwete’s body would then be taken to Peelton cemetery about a kilometre from the stadium to be laid to rest.
Members of the public could sign condolence books through the week at the Union Buildings and police headquarters in Pretoria. ANC offices would make similar books available.
In terms of a Cabinet decision, Motlanthe said, state funerals were reserved for the president and his deputy. Ministers were accorded an official funeral.
State funerals included a 21-gun salute carried out by the SA National Defence Force, explained National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi.
”Essentially they are the same, but in an official funeral you won’t have a 21-gun salute.”
The state carried the funeral expenses in both categories and ensured that the ceremony took place in terms of set protocols, selebi said. – Sapa