Asmal the best of a generation - Zille
2011-06-22 19:35
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Johannesburg - Kader Asmal represented the best of a generation of struggle heroes, DA leader Helen Zille said after his death on Wednesday.
"Asmal was far more than a politician. He represented the best of a generation of struggle heroes who made unimaginable sacrifices to realise a democratic South Africa," Zille said.
"Asmal will be remembered for many things, but particularly for his scholarship, and his contribution to entrenching constitutionalism in South Africa. He left Parliament on principle, refusing to vote for the abolition of the Scorpions."
Asmal, 76, died on Wednesday in Constantiaberg Medi-Clinic in Cape Town after having a heart attack and slipping into a coma.
He was the minister of water affairs and forestry from 1994, a member of the ANC's national executive committee, and education minister from 1999.
Zille said the DA would honour his memory by guarding the constitution and "by achieving the vision of a South Africa that offers the opportunity of a better life for all".
Asmal's death follows that of struggle icon Albertina Sisulu, wife of Walter Sisulu, who died on June 2.
- SAPA
