ANC Limpopo treasurer and education MEC Thembi Nwendamutswu put her life and that of her family at risk of being attacked by the then Apartheid government, in the name of freedom.
She did this by safekeeping weapons belonging to Umkhonto we sizwe (MK) in her father’s house in Swaziland, where she also lived. The decision to do so came after she fell in love with freedom fighter Mamabolo Nwendamutswu, who was known as Phillip Mokoena at the time.
This picture of Thembi’s life was drawn by her brother, Vusi Mkhumane, while addressing hundreds of mourners during her funeral service at the University of Venda stadium in Thohoyandou on Saturday.
He said his sister discovered her purpose and lived her purpose. “We thank the ANC and the Nwendamutswu family for their courage and also for protecting her until her untimely death,” Mkhumane said.
Basic education minister, Angie Motshekga said she had worked with Thembi in the late president Nelson Mandela’s office in 1994. She said Thembi was a woman of many talents, and was hardworking, intelligent and humble. “She used to call me Sisi. When the ANC Women’s League provincial conference in Tzaneen was put on hold due to conflict she turned around and looked at me and said: “Sisi… I don’t like this embarrassment,” Motshekga recollected.
(PHOTO GALLERY) Limpopo education MEC, Thembi Nwendamutswu funeral service
“She shunned the limelight, even when she was the education MEC. We are devastated by her death. She helped the Limpopo education department to improve matric results. We will miss her sense of humour. We will miss her forever,” Motshekga said.
Speaking on behalf of the ANC national working committee, Zweli Mkhize said Thembi was a true cadre who never looked back during her liberation struggle. He said Thembi never associated herself with factions.
“She was passionate about helping MK comrades out of exile with ideas to create their own jobs. The ANC can’t be used by people who want to satisfy their own needs. The ANC can’t be used by people who want to create factions. It was not formed to solve individual problems. So in memory of Thembi, Nelson Diale, Peter Mokaba and others, people should continue voting for the ANC. People should stand against the disruption in parliament. You must stand up and say nothing should disrupt our parliament again. Parliament is not the place where people behave as they wish. We are the ones who should defend our constitution. Arise and defend the ANC. The ANC is a family. ANC cadres are married to the ANC first, then their wives and husbands,” he said.
On behalf of president Jacob Zuma, environmental affairs minister Edna Molewa said people should emulate Thembi for her discipline in the movement. She said Thembi had to leave Swaziland for exile for 10 years with her children and joined the Umkhonto we sizwe. Molewa said she built her family under difficult conditions.
“Her strength and courage took her through difficult circumstances until she came to South Africa after the unbanning of the ANC. She and her husband became a reservoir of revolutionary intellectualism, and a path to political maturity for the young revolutionaries. She had a sterling record working in the Independent Development Trust, the national department of social development, Mpumalanga department of social development, Public Service Commission and RDP Commission in Limpopo,” she said.
Thembi leaves behind her husband and children Manu, Mpile, Leko and Aluwani.
