Pretoria- Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe says government will intensify its fight against HIV and AIDS and other infectious diseases in honour of the late deputy health minister, Molefi Sefularo.
Sefularo was laid to rest at the Hartebeespoort cemetery West of Pretoria on Saturday. His funeral was attended by hundreds of people including several cabinet ministers, premiers, MECs and mayors. He died in a car crash on the N4 in Pretoria West last Monday.
"He was a rare individual, who remained a core member of society without demonstrating any false grace, but sought to align his training and expertise with the needs of his fellow human beings," Motlanthe said.
On the eve of his tragic death, Sefularo had undertaken a trip to Cuba where he visited South African medical students studying there.
Motlanthe said government should speed up discussions surrounding the National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme in honour of Sefularo "who was very passionate about improving people's lives".
"He would be very happy with that, to him the pragmatic vision of building a caring and humane society in which all South Africans have access to affordable, good quality health care was realisable as part of government's programme of action".
Colleagues, family members and friends all described Sefularo as a hard worker and a true freedom fighter.
"He was a man of stature...you know often when him and I talked about death he would often say he would love to have a tomato box as his coffin, he was a man of the people," Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi later told BuaNews.
Long time friend, Mpueleng Poo, said Sefularo's untimely death "shook the foundation of the entire South African society".
"What does a smile on Sefularo's face tell you? Oh, what a gracious person, what a lovely person he was," he said.
Meanwhile, Motlanthe called on South Africans to take part in government's HIV Counselling and Testing (HCT) campaign by voluntarily visiting testing centres and clinics to get tested for the pandemic.
The target of the HCT campaign is to test up to 15 million people by June 2011. Last Thursday President Jacob Zuma also undertook his HIV test.
