This is a leader who without any reservations accepted the democratic outcomes of the voices of Zambian people by stepping down peacefully and respecting the democratically elected government after he lost the elections. This did neither embittered nor depoliticised Kenneth Kaunda as he

continued to play active role in the peacemaking, reconstruction and development of Zambia and other parts of Africa.

To demonstrate his unflinching commitment to the peaceful resolution of the South African political conflict, Comrade Kaunda defied the temptations of triumphalism and stood true to his humility. There is no better way to express this humility than what he said after the adoption of the Harare Declaration and the signals by the apartheid regime to enter into peaceful negotiations when he said, and I quote: 'The ball is now in Pretoria's court.'

To celebrate the life and times of Kenneth Kaunda without his peers, contemporaries, fellow comrades in arms for Africa's peace, renewal and development will be the writing of history with blank pages which the generations to come will not forgive us. According to history archives, Julius Nyerere adopted more of a statesman approach in his interaction with the ANC during the talks about talks. This was demonstrated by deep commitment towards the resolution of the South African conflict in the true spirit of co-operation andcompromise.

There is no better way to describe this than through his own words when he said to Oliver Tambo and the ANC delegation, and I quote:

You have not defeated these people. That is why you are negotiating with them. And therefore, you have to create necessary space that recognise that this is not a defeated force.

Hon Deputy Chairperson, there is no doubt, as documented by historians, the heroic upsurge of anticolonial movement in many parts of Africa, and the SADC in particular, was a catalyst in inspiring the death defying militancy of the successive generations of the oppressed youth of South Africa. These are heroics battle that inspired the heroism of the 1976 detachment of uMkonto weSizwe and the young lions under the leadership of the late Peter Mokaba and Rapu Molekane, who shook the apartheid regime through militant massactions.

Kenneth Kaunda, welcome the ANC and its young revolutionary democrats without any hesitation and provided all he could, sometimes at the expense of his own people. As one of our stalwart, Comrade Mac Maharaj recounts: 'Kaunda never confined

them to the camps but integrated them with the Zambian people.'

Chairperson, as we celebrate the life and times of this giant of Africa, we, as an apex institution of democracy, must have our palms on the blood nerve of the African Continental Free Trade Area, AfCFTA that has been ratified by our country recently. This free trade area agreement is among the critical continental policy instruments for Africa's renewal, reconstruction and development which Kenneth Kaunda struggled for.

In conclusion, allow me to join many others who have expressed their heartfelt condolences to the family of the late Kenneth Kaunda, his comrades and the people of Zambia. We share their pain, belong to the same past, and must dare not fail to construct a common destiny and future in a free and prosperous Africa.