Transport Minister Dullah Omar passed away in the Constantiaberg Medi-Clinic on Saturday morning, a family spokesperson said.
Omar had been receiving treatment for Hodgkins-Classic, a form of cancer of the lymph nodes, diagnosed last January, and was rushed to hospital on Tuesday with respiratory problems.
Omar will be given an official funeral with ”all the honours due to a serving member of cabinet” government spokesperson Joel Netshitenzhe said.
He said flags would be flown at half-mast from Saturday morning until the last official memorial service had been held.
Netshitenzhe said President Thabo Mbeki and other dignitaries would attend Omar’s funeral in Cape Town on Saturday afternoon.
He said Omar had served South Africa’s people with distinction.
”Since his youth Dullah dedicated his life to the struggle to free South Africa from the scourge of apartheid. As an attorney and advocate of the Supreme Court, he dedicated his energy and skills to the service of the deprived communities as well as in political trials and assistance to prisoners on Robben Island and other prisons.”
He said Omar became Minister of Transport in 1999 and had several time served as acting president in the absence of the president.
Netshitenzhe said: ”The government wishes to extend its profound condolences, and the condolences of all South Africans, to Dullah’s wife and children. Our thoughts are with them in this hour of grief.”
The SA Communist Party secretary-general Blade Nzimande said on Saturday his party was saddened by the death of Omar.
He said South Africa had lost a great fighter and a believer in the people and human rights.
”From the days of apartheid he distinguished himself as a committed patriot when many lawyers failed to come out to stand against apartheid and its judiciary system,” he said.
Nzimande said Omar played an important role as the first justice minister in the democratic South Africa.
”We salute him for rising to that role of putting right the wrongs of apartheid and ensuring people had access to justice he himself was denied,” he said.
”We send our love, warmth and condolences to Farida, his wife, and the rest of his family.”
NNP leader Marthinus Van Schalkwyk said Omar’s death is a ”a loss to us all and to South Africa as a nation”.
He said that it was only last week the Western Cape Government awarded Provincial
Honours to Minister Dullah Omar, yet ”no award is enough to really do justice to a lifetime spent in the liberation of his people, in his commitment to good governance and in his dedication to his country.”
The ANC and the family of Omar will be holding a press briefing at 9am at the Thornhill Community Centre, Hazel Rd, Gatesville, Cape Town. – Sapa
Omar: A biography