Today we are devastated and wounded by the loss of Princess Lethuxolo who we were so proud to call a friend, a sister and a colleague. 

I came to know and love Xolo very much as our joint responsibilities brought us into almost daily contact over the last four years or so. Xolo was delightful to work with and she lived Noel Coward's lovely truth that "work is more fun than fun". She inherited from her father a prodigious capacity for work and she emulated him by accomplishing every task - be it minor and major - with the same attention to detail.  

She reflected the nobility of her bearing as a scion of one of Africa's most illustrious families, whilst, at the same time, simply being one of us: a very "ordinary" girl.  

Xolo, for sure, had a lightness of spirit and touch, but it was combined with a fierce loyalty to her parents. Mntwana's cause was Xolo's cause. She was enormously proud of her father's achievements and accordingly approached her responsibilities with a sense of reverence and, yes, awe.  In the poignant words of W. H. Auden, Mntwana - and his service - was Xolo's North, South, East and West. 

One of my most aching reflections in the last few days has been that Xolo had to witness in the last few months of her life the wretched interference by government into her father's responsibilities at the House of Traditional Leaders. I know this pained her deeply and she often spoke to me about her anxiety.

One of my favourite memories of Xolo is when she accompanied her father to a Masked Ball in Cape Town in 2006. She loved coming down to Cape Town with her dad and was beside herself with excitement when, after a glass of something sparkling at my place, we had a rare few hours in the afternoon to look around the shops at the Waterfront.  That evening, she, as always, shone like the rising on a spring day and looked devastatingly beautiful.   

She was one of two people in my life who affectionately called me "Jon Jon"; the other also being a dear friend who assists Mntwana in Cape Town. On a lighter note, I felt that Xolo, more than anyone else, appreciated my talent for my impersonations of some of members of the IFP parliamentary caucus. In fact, come to think of it, she was probably the only one really! She would yell with laughter and exclaim: "Cayzer!"  

Xolo, like all good friends should, nudged me towards truth and integrity in my personal life.  

I would like to, if I may, share a deeply personal experience because, I think, it speaks to something fundamental about Xolo's character. Earlier in the year, I was faced with something of a dilemma when, for the first time, I had elected to take my partner to the pre-Opening of Parliament party at the British High Commission in Cape Town.  

I felt I should tell uMntwana and I rang Xolo for her counsel. Without a moment's hesitation she said I must because, as she put it, "my dad is a civilised man" - to which I can now only say: "daughter like father". Xolo inherited her father's natural gift of straddling cultures, diversity and difference - and the traditional and the modern - seamlessly. 

Above all, we give thanks for the life of a woman I am so proud to be able to call my friend, colleague and sister: the extraordinary and irreplaceable Xolo, whose beauty, both inside and outside, will never be extinguished from our hearts.