Deputy Minister in the Presidency Thembi Siweya says she has lost a father figure with the passing away of Minister Jackson Mthembu.
Mthembu will be laid to rest in his hometown of Emalahleni in Mpumalanga this morning. He succumbed to COVID- 19 related complications on Thursday.
Siweya says Mthembu was strongly against corruption.
“Minister would go to a meeting and I would misbehave after the meeting he would say to me, in the meeting he will protect me after the meeting he would say ‘o ngayenzi lento’ (don’t do that) and he would guide me. I am not sure if we have many replicas of Jackson Mthembu. Jackson believed in me, he would not make a decision without talking to me I never felt like I am a DM and he would also tell me Thembi ‘ we don’t steal here’ (in Zulu) no corruption la.”
President Cyril Ramaphosa will deliver the eulogy at the funeral of Mthembu.
Ramaphosa has accorded Mthembu an Official Category One funeral. Ramaphosa has also ordered that the flags be flown at half-mast from Saturday morning until Sunday.
Deputy President David Mabuza will pay tribute to him at his memorial service at the Government Communication and Information System Auditorium in Hatfield, Pretoria, on Monday.
The memorial was originally scheduled to take place on Saturday but has since been postponed to Monday following consultations between the Presidency and the late Minister’s family.
Livestream of funeral proceedings below:
