Jackson Mphikwa Mthembu (5 June 1958 – 21 January 2021) was a South African politician who served as

Minister in the Presidency The Minister in the Presidency is a Minister in the Cabinet of South Africa and is chosen by the President of South Africa. The minister is responsible for all portfolios within the Office of the President of South Africa. After Minister Ja ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

's government, and as a parliamentarian for the African National Congress (ANC). Previously, he served as the

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for the ruling ANC as well as the national spokesperson for the ANC.

Early life

Mthembu was born in

Witbank Witbank (), officially Emalahleni, is a city situated on the Highveld of Mpumalanga, South Africa, within the Emalahleni Local Municipality. The name Witbank is Afrikaans for "white ridge", and is named after a white sandstone outcrop where ...

on 5 June 1958. His mother was Nantoni Mthembu.

Political career

Mthembu served as the MEC for Transport in

Mpumalanga Mpumalanga () is a province of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. ...

from 1997 to 1999, during which he was criticized for spending R2.3 million on ten BMWs. Mthembu was elected to

National Assembly of South Africa The National Assembly is the directly elected house of the Parliament of South Africa, located in Cape Town, Western Cape. It consists of four hundred members who are elected every five years using a party-list proportional representation syst ...

in 2014 where he served till his death in 2021. On 28 November 2017, some of Mthembu's ANC colleagues criticised him for "colluding" with the DA to schedule a debate on state capture in Parliament in defiance of President

Jacob Zuma Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma (; born 12 April 1942) is a South African politician who served as the fourth president of South Africa from 2009 to 2018. He is also referred to by his initials JZ and clan name Msholozi, and was a former anti-aparth ...

and his colleagues in the ANC caucus who had already called for a more inclusive process to investigate

state capture State capture is a type of systemic political corruption in which private interests significantly influence a state's decision-making processes to their own advantage. The term was first used by the World Bank, around the year 2000, to describe ...

Personal life and death

Mthembu was married to Thembi Mthembu. He had six children. His daughter, 25-year-old Nokhwezi Mthembu, committed suicide on 20 March 2019 at their Pelican Park parliamentary village home in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

. In 2014, Mthembu was shot in the cheek while using an Absa ATM on Mandela Street in the Witbank CBD. The armed man and his accomplices proceeded to Mthembu's car, where four of his friends were waiting for him, and robbed them of their money and cellphones. Mthembu died due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quick ...

complications during the

COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa The COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa is part of the ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 ( COVID-19) caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 ( SARS-CoV-2). On 5 March 2020, Minister of Health Zweli Mkhize had ...

on 21 January 2021. A medical helicopter transporting one of his doctors crashed the same day, killing all 5 on board.

References

External links

Interview with Jackson Mthembu
on ANC

centenary {{other uses, Centennial (disambiguation), Centenary (disambiguation) A centennial, or centenary in British English, is a 100th anniversary or otherwise relates to a century, a period of 100 years. Notable events Notable centennial events at a ...

celebrations - broadcast by

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1958 births 2021 deaths 20th-century South African politicians 21st-century South African politicians African National Congress politicians Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa Members of the Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature Members of the National Assembly of South Africa Zulu people {{SouthAfrica-politician-stub