The funeral service of the Deputy Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Bavelile Hlongwa is currently under way at the Durban International Convention Centre.
Hlongwa has been given an official Category 2 funeral.
President Cyril Ramaphosa will be delivered the eulogy. The National Youth Development Agency executive director Juliet Shoke has described Hlongwa a person who dedicated herself to helping others.
“It is a sad for us because we have lost a soul that could have chartered a different path for youth development in this country. But her legacy lives. Her soul is still with us. We will continue where she left of. I think we are brave enough to say that wherever she is, all the employees of the NYDA will miss her sorely. All the leadership she has worked with, civil society, public sector and private sector will sorely miss her,” Shoke said.
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The late deputy minister Hlongwa and two other people died while trying to assist people who were involved in a crash on the N1 highway near the Carousel Plaza, north of Pretoria, last weekend.
It is alleged that a truck lost control and crashed into them.
The late Hlongwa has been described as a strong, vocal and principled African National Congress (ANC) servant.
Those who paid tribute to her include former ANC president, he says Hlongwa’s death robbed the country of a bright energetic leader.
Hlongwa rose in the ranks of the ANC and had also been elected SRC president at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in 2009.
She stood for women emancipation and encouraged women to support each other.
