Johannesburg | Saturday
TRIBUTES from across the spectrum flowed in on Saturday after the death of Safety and Security Minister Steve Tshwete in Military 1 Hospital in Pretoria on Friday night, where he had been confined for two weeks.
President Thabo Mbeki said in a statement from Bloemfontein early Saturday morning that South Africans had lost an outstanding leader and patriot, while branches of the African National Congress (ANC) countrywide praised Tshwete for his role in building the ANC into a mass-based organisation which enabled the party’s election victory in 1994.
ANC representative Smuts Ngonyama described 64-year-old Tshwete as ”an able and experienced organiser, soldier and political leader who was highly regarded within the democratic movement and more broadly…”
Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon remembered Tshwete as a very tough opponent, a very sincere patriot and a very strong fighter for his causes and beliefs.
Tshwete also played a pivotal role in the development of non-racial sport in South Africa. The South African Rugby and Football Union president, Silas Nkanunu, described him as ”one of the game of rugby’s most passionate sons”.
He was born in Springs 1938 to working class parents. As a child his family moved to King William’s Town in the Eastern Cape.
The 1950’s treason trial was the catalyst for the growth of his political awareness and after leaving school he began to work for the ANC.
In 1964, Tshwete was arrested and served a 15-year jail term on Robben Island. On his release in 1978, Tshwete returned to political organising in the Eastern Cape and became United Democratic Front Border region president in 1983.
Harassed by the security police and declared persona non grata in South Africa, Tshwete continued his work across the borders in Lesotho and then in Zambia. During this time he served on a number of ANC committees and was appointed Army Commissar of Umkhonto weSizwe (MK).
He returned to South Africa in 1990 and became ANC national organiser responsible for rebuilding the organisation’s structures.
He then headed the ANC’s sports desk and later became Minister of Sport and Recreation, taking up his next ministerial position in 1999.
The cause of death were complications, including pneumonia and kidney failure, stemming from a nerve problem in his back which immobilised his lower limbs, African National Congress Secretary General Kgalema Motlanthe said on Saturday.
Motlanthe said doctors at Military 1 Hospital did a dialysis on Tshwete on Friday to diminish a build-up of body fluids but by late Friday evening were unable to stop his decline.
Tshwete will have an official funeral and the South African flag will fly at half mast nationally from Saturday until the evening of the funeral, which has not yet been set.
He is survived by his wife Pamela and two children, Yonda and Mayehlomi. – Sapa