Lungisani Malinga

ANC provincial spokesperson and former KwaDukuza Mayor Ricardo Mthembu was laid to rest on Saturday in KwaDukuza.

Mthembu (50) died on Wednesday from Covid-19 after spending days in Intensive Care Unit in Ballito hospital.

Region’s Secretary, Phumlile Zulu said after Mthembu left the mayoral position in the General Gizenga Mpanza region which is the third biggest region of the African National Congress (ANC) in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), he was never stable again.

The region was due to elect new leaders in a conference which apparently was postponed due to Covid-19 Pandemic.

“It is a very emotional occurrence for everyone within the region because they had known Mthembu to be very instrumental in building and uniting the ANC even back in the early 90’s,” said the region’s secretary.

The funeral was restricted to few political leaders and family members. Sihle Zikalala highlighted that the funeral was not much of a send-off for a leader in Mthembu’s calibre.

“Comrade Ricardo believed in unity of the movement, unity must always be a priority for everyone. The only way to honour comrade Ricardo is to unite the region and reclaim activism also let the ANC be present throughout this region,” said Zikalala.

Zikalala praised Mthembu’s family for not hiding the cause of death, saying other people are afraid to disclose that someone died because of Covid-19.

“That is important for the awareness that this virus kills, that we need to protect ourselves,” he added.