'ANC poll losses made late councillor weep'

The day the ANC lost control of Tshwane, councillor Nonhlanhla Mthembu sobbed to the point where she had to be hospitalised.

This was revealed by the late councillor’s best friend, Barry Swarts, at her memorial service at Naturena Primary School in Joburg last night.

“She then asked me: ‘Do you think we will lose Joburg?’ I just said let’s wait and see,” Swarts recalled.

“She (Mthembu) then replied and said ‘I would be very depressed if we lose Joburg’. That is how much she loved the organisation.”

Mthembu collapsed and died during the inaugural Joburg council meeting on Monday in the Johannesburg City Hall, where the DA took over control of the city from the ANC.

Former executive mayor Parks Tau and his ex-council members came to pay their last respects to Mthembu. They seemed to be in high spirits, joining the crowd in chanting slogans and singing in celebration of “a life well lived”.

Members of the ANC Youth League sang songs, taking a swipe at the newly elected Joburg mayor, Herman Mashaba, of the DA.

Also speaking was Mthembu’s neighbour Themba Mbele.

“I have learnt how to serve the ANC with humility from comrade Stompie. She was not driven by important positions. She understood that to be a member is about helping the movement to achieve its agenda of making the lives of the people better.”

Mbele added: “We must stop fighting among ourselves and blaming one another for losing Joburg. It’s time to look at how to fix the problems in Joburg. We have done our best, the DA and the EFF didn’t win, they stole Joburg.”

Member of the mayoral committee for environment and infrastructure Matshidiso Mfikoe said Mthembu was like a sister to her. “She was an activist, not just a councillor. She engaged, she took the executive to task.”

Mthembu is survived by her two children.