Defend the ANC, Mkhize tells mourners

ANC treasurer general Dr Zweli Mkhize has told ANC members they must defend the ANC.

Speaking during the memorial service of Ms Thembi Nwedamutswu, MEC for Education and ANC provincial treasurer, at the Univen Stadium on Saturday, Mkhize said the ANC had worked for the democracy in South African that everybody cherished.

In an apparent reference to the Econominc Freedom Fighters, he said there were people who had gone to Parliament prematurely without knowing what it meant. He said they had made South Africa the laughing stock of the world and this must not be allowed to happen.

“Parliament is an august body where the laws of the country are made and order and respect should be the order of the day,” said Mkhize. He said ANC members should defend their party against disruptions, because it was the ANC that had worked to make it possible for parties to go to a democratic parliament and disrupts proceedings.

Mkhize’s message was also directed at the ANC leadership in the region and province that the NEC expected them to work for the growth of the party and they should desist from promoting factions.

During the service, tributes also came from ANC Women’s League president Angie Motshega and Limpopo Premier Stan Mathabatha. “Thembi feared no one, but she did not disrespect anybody,” said Motshega.

Mathabatha also praised the former politician’s hard work, especially as  MEC “as she led the Grade 12 results in the province to improve”.

The family of Nwedamutswu had blunt words for the ANC. Takalani Nwedamutswu, the younger brother of Mr Mamabolo Nwedamutswu, the MEC’s husband, said the family’s message to Thembi’s party was to emulate her, so that the party would exist for generations to come. Without mentioning names, Takalani said the family was disheartened to realise that some in the ANC were doing wrong things like promoting factions, at a great cost to the party, and that was not what his sister-in-law had stood for.

Minister Edna Molewa also gave a moving eulogy.

The late MEC was married to ANC stalwart Mamabolo Nwedamutswu. He attended the ceremony in a wheelchair.

She is survived by her husband and four children: Manu, Mpile, Leko and Aluwani. She was cremated the day before the memorial service.

Date:23 January 2015

By: Elmon Tshikhudo

Elmon Tshikhudo started off as a photographer. He developed an interest in writing and started submitting articles to local as well as national publications. He became part of the Limpopo Mirror family in 2005 and was a permanent part of the news team until 2019.

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