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Mlangeni was an ethical leader: Makgoba

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The Anglican Church of Southern Africa says anti-apartheid struggle icon and Rivonia trialist, Andrew Mlangeni, was an ethical leader who continued to champion the interest of the poor.

Mlangeni died at 1 Military Hospital in Thaba Tshwane in Pretoria after being admitted for an abdominal ailment.

He was 95-years-old.

Archbishop Thabo Makgoba has extended the condolences of the church and broader Anglican community to the family of Mlangeni.

“The sad loss of Andrew Mlangeni marks not only the passing of a generation prepared to lay down their lives for justice and freedom, but of a leader who continued to model ethical, value-based leadership in the interest of the poor.”

“Our society owes an inestimable debt to the Rivonia generation, and we owe it to the memory of Baba Mlangeni and his comrades,- to recover their values and work not for our own personal gain, but instead pursue the common good. I will miss seeing and warmly interacting with Baba at the annual State of Nation Address (SONA). We send our condolences and those of the wider Anglican Church, to his family. May he rest in peace and rise in glory,” explains Mlangeni.

In the video below, Andrew Mlangeni hailed by parliamentarians as a man of integrity:

The Thabo Mbeki Foundation has described Mlangeni as an “elder statesman” whose “bearing and intelligence was reminiscent of that of Oliver Tambo in his gentility, decency, and intelligence and yet no push-over when it comes to argument on the core values of the struggle.”

The foundation says Mlangeni served the ANC with integrity and dedication.

“He tried his best to serve as the conscience of the ANC. The ANC may not have reckoned with what he would become as chairperson of the Integrity Commission.”

The statement further reads, “His findings shook the foundations and rattled the complacency of those who thought that they had the license to abuse the power and popularity of the ANC for their own ends. His pronouncements and their recommendations were often ignored and at times ridiculed by leaders of the ANC.”

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