MKMVA president Kebby Maphatsoe has passed away

President of the now-disbanded Umkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans’ Association (MKMVA) Kebby Maphatsoe has died.

According to reports, Maphatsoe died on Tuesday afternoon, however, the cause of his death remains unknown at this stage.

The Citizen made attempts to reach out to MKMVA spokesperson Carl Niehaus for comment, but to no avail.

Political career

Maphatsoe served once as the deputy minister of defence and military veterans, a position he served in from 2014 until 2019.

In his early days, he was a member of the Congress of South African Students (Cosas) and the Soweto Youth Congress (SOYCO) as well as the South African Youth Congress (SAYCO).

During the apartheid years, Maphatsoe went into exile and became a trained political commissar of uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the armed wing of the ANC. He received further training in Angola and in the Soviet Union and was also exiled in Uganda before returning to South Africa.

Maphatsoe also led the MKMVA as regional chairperson, and was elected provincial chairperson in 2007.

Under his political direction, the MKMVA became an integral component of the ANC and for the first time, the association was in the central agenda of the ANC political framework, “with the achievement of progressive resolutions for the association and the ANC”.

Compiled by Molefe Seeletsa.