President Jacob Zuma has appointed labour minister Nelisiwe Mildred Oliphant as acting minister of public service and administration following the death of minister Roy Padayachie this weekend.
Oliphant will fill the position until further notice, according to the Presidency. It adds that Padayachie will receive an Official Funeral Category 1. This category of a funeral is reserved for ministers who are still serving in office.
All national flags will fly at half-mast at all flag stations in the country, in honour of both Padayachie and former minister Sicelo Shiceka from today until the evening of burial. Padayachie will be buried on 9 May, in KwaZulu-Natal.
He was attending the African Peer Review Mechanism meeting of the Select Committee of Focal Points in Ethiopia at the time of his death.
SA soldier
"On behalf of myself, the Cabinet, government and the people of SA, I would like to express our inner most sense of loss and despair at the passing of minister Padayachie,” says Zuma.
“I know no life of his spent outside the pursuit of the goal of a democratic, free, united and prosperous SA. It is sadly a great measure of his dedication and personality that he was to meet his destiny and fate in pursuance of a better Africa and a better world, a goal he dedicated his entire life for it to be realised and achieved. No amount of words can express this loss that the government and people of SA feel at this loss,” says Zuma.
Padayachie joined the ANC in 1972. A microbiologist at Reckitt and Colman from 1976-1979, he also worked as research chemist at Shell Chemical (1979-1980), says the Presidency.
He became involved in the United Democratic Front as an executive committee member in KwaZulu-Natal. Between 1980 and 1999 he was also a member of the ANC KwaZulu-Natal negotiating team at Congress for a Democratic SA. He was appointed deputy minister of communications in April 2004 and deputy minister of public service and administration in 2010.
“We have lost a worker, an academic, a cadre and a soldier for a better SA; may his family be consoled by the work he has done for the country and its people,” says Zuma.
Life devotion
The ANC and the office of the ANC chief whip expressed sadness at Padayachie's passing. “The passing away of comrade Padayachie has indeed dealt us a heavy blow... He was without a doubt one of the most talented, experienced and visionary government leaders with unmatched ability to fit in whatever portfolio he was deployed to.
“His commitment to the struggle for SA's liberation saw him dedicate his life to service to the people. He lived by the philosophy that one should never forget that one serves the people and that is the reason for one's existence.”
The Congress of SA Trade Unions says Padayachie died as he lived, working hard for his country and his continent. “He devoted his life to serving his people, especially the poorest and most oppressed.”
It adds that he served in government with great distinction. “Comrade Roy worked tirelessly to improve the lives of his fellow South Africans, and never sought to advance his own interests above those of the people he served.”
Democratic Alliance national spokesperson Mmusi Maimane says Padayachie was an able and hard-working member of Cabinet, who was always responsive and available to engage with the DA.
“He was effecting a steady turn-around at the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA), which demonstrated his commitment to service delivery excellence. He will be missed in Parliament, in Cabinet, and indeed by all who worked with him or under him in his long and distinguished career in service of SA.”
Integrity recognised
Padayachie was well known to the ICT sector, having served as deputy communications minister from 2004 until 2009, when he took up the position of deputy minister of public service and administration.
He was appointed as minister of communications in October 2010 and this appointment was broadly welcomed by the industry as Padayachie was seen as being easier to talk to, with a clear grasp on SA's communications needs.
He was then appointed to head up the DPSA in October last year, after Zuma's most-recent Cabinet shuffle.
As communications minister, Padayachie was commended for his work in spearheading the 2020 vision, which aimed to see universal broadband in SA and one million ICT jobs. He was credited with knowing the telecoms industry "inside out". He also spearheaded the concept of roundtable discussions with the heads of the top 30 local ICT companies.
Analyst Arthur Goldstuck said Padayachie had been recognised as someone of integrity, and that's what was needed for institutions like the State IT Agency that fall within the DPSA portfolio.
Padayachie had a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Durban-Westville and a Masters of Science degree from University of London.
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