MPs bid Mike Ellis fond farewell

2011-09-14 21:14

Cape Town - Parliamentarians bade a fond and, at times, moving farewell to long-serving DA MP and deputy chief whip Mike Ellis on Wednesday.

"You taught us that being opposition does not equal to one being disloyal to his country," ANC deputy chief whip Bulelani Magwanishe told him during a special farewell tribute in the National Assembly.

To loud applause from across the House, Magwanishe said Ellis had been an opposition MP for 24 years, but had remained a patriot.

"Some people come into our lives and quickly go; some stay for a while and leave footprints in our hearts, and you are never the same. Honourable Ellis has done that. This House will never be the same again," Magwanishe said.

Ellis, who turns 65 later this month, has served as an opposition politician since 1987, when he was elected to the House of Assembly after winning the Durban North seat for the then Progressive Federal Party.

Accidental politician

He won it again in 1989 for the newly-constituted Democratic Party. In the first democratic elections of 1994, he was elected to the National Assembly, serving as DA party whip from 1995 to 1999, and as deputy chief whip from the 1999 elections.

A former teacher and headmaster, Ellis - who holds a bachelors degree in education - said in his farewell speech he was an "accidental" politician.

"It is a fact. I am an accidental politician. Like a bolt from the blue, I was approached by the PFP to be its candidate... I realised then that I could no longer be a bystander in the unfolding events of our times, and I took the plunge," he said.

Speaking in the House, Democratic Alliance parliamentary leader Athol Trollip said Ellis was best described as a character.

"Mike Ellis has been one of those rare people in politics who can best be described as a character. Mike, you kept Parliament vibrant and us amused," he said.

There was hardly a politician in the House who had not at some stage been lampooned by him.

A class of his own

"You have driven many a speaker - present company [Speaker Max Sisulu] included - almost to dementia. Chairpersons and party leaders continue to be exasperated with your characteristic repartee and deft riposte," Trollip said.

The Inkatha Freedom Party's Koos van der Merwe, himself a long-serving politician, said parliaments were rarely blessed with members such as Ellis, who was in a class of his own when it came to sharp interjections and points of order.

He told Ellis that after today he was free.

"You have toiled as a school principal and an educator of our youth for many years. You have served your country with distinction for 24 years as a member of Parliament," he said.

The Independent Democrats' Lance Greyling donned a special yellow tie to mark Ellis's leave taking.

An institution

"The Honourable Ellis has been trying for a number of years to get me to wear a tie, so I thought it would be fitting to give him that satisfaction today," he said to loud applause.

Greyling described Ellis as "an institution in this institution".

One of the more unusual tributes came from Freedom Front Plus chief whip Corne Mulder, who sang him some appropriately changed lyrics from a song made famous in 1976 by the band Smokey.

"Cos' for 24 years we've been working next door to Ellis," he chirped, much to the amusement of MPs.

Before delivering his farewell speech, Ellis insisted on walking across to the ANC side of the National Assembly to give his ruling party counterpart, Magwanishe, a hug and thank him for his earlier words.

Returning to the podium after doing so, he said: "It felt quite good on that side of the floor."

Ellis received a standing ovation from all members of the House.

- SAPA