The funeral of Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa will take place on 6 October. The announcement was made by her brother, Fana Mmethi in Pretoria on Sunday afternoon.
“So then as the family we’ve just come up with the date of the burial. On the 6 October that will be a day that we are going to bury her and the venue, she will be leaving here Rigel Avenue 320, the place where we’re going to bury her is Zandfontein right in Pretoria just next to Wonderpark and Pretoria North. That’s where we’re going to bury her,” says Mmethi.
President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Saturday night that the late Minister will be accorded an official funeral by government.
Molewa died on Saturday morning from complications of Legionnaires’ disease, a severe form of pneumonia that is spread through the inhalation of droplets of water that contain the Legionella bacteria.
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has expressed the devastating sadness at the passing of his friend and cabinet colleague. He was speaking to SABC’s Sherwin Bryce-Pease ahead of the start of the UN General Assembly in New York.
“It was devastating Sherwin, you are right, she was a leader in that field of climate change, environmental safety for all the citizens, she was right there in the forefront and very dedicated. We were devastated, the past two weeks have not been very easy for us, she came back from FOCAC in China and she came back very sick and we were very hopeful, especially us in the health sector, we were interacting with her every day. I personally was visiting her in hospital every day. She sits next to me in cabinet and in many other forums, because our surnames are Motsoaledi and Molewa, next to each other, so I was very close to her, we were following each other’s progress and by the middle of this week we were very hopeful because she could speak to us, but then all of a sudden things changed, it’s just still so unbelievable.” Authors-Sherwin Bryce-Pease and Maluti Obuseng
