An avid golfer, family man and voice against corruption, the “backroom boy” Andrew Mlangeni was laid to rest in a special official funeral service in Johannesburg on Wednesday.
In life, Andrew Mlangeni was never silent about corruption. At his funeral on Wednesday, two senior ANC membe“You saw it, tata… instead of fighting for the development of our people, we are fighting for positions,” Gauteng MEC for Education, Panyaza Lesufi, noted., Mlangeni passed away on 21 July at 1 Military Hospital in Pretoria after being admitted for a stomach infection.
In honour of the struggle hero, he called for the renewal of the ANC, a resolution put forth at the party’sMlangeni was bid farewell in a special official funeral service held at the University of Johannesburg’s Soweto campus. He was buried at the Roodepoort Cemetery. Outlined in his obituary, read by Tshepo Lebepe, Mlangeni, born on 6 June 1925 in Matoding outside Bethlehem in the Free State, was one of 12 children. His parents, Matia and Aletta Mlangeni, were farm labour tenants.He was recruited to the Young Communist League by Ruth First in 1944 and later joined the SACP full time in 1959 as its secretary for the Johannesburg region, responsible for black groups. In 1951 he formally joined the ANC Youth League, and then the ANC in 1954.
Close family friend Malose Kekana shared a pertinent question he once posed to Mlangeni: “What drove you, Madiba and others to be able to sacrifice your lives for freedom,” to which Mlangeni responded, “God gives us inalienable rights when we are born, but society, due to bigotry and racism, takes away a man’s freedom, which is the essence of life as given to you by God.”
“Papa was the best. He meant everything to all of us: his grandchildren, his great-grandchildren. He gave us time. He listened to us,” Mpumi said tearfully.Peppered with musical interludes, the sombre physically distanced funeral saw attendees clad in masks and sitting roughly a metre apart.“There were years in which we feared we would never have the opportunity to know you as a father,” said his son. “To have you back for almost 30 years has been a blessing to us as a family.
A handout photo made available by GCIS dated 29 July 2020 shows South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa and other mourners viewing the coffin of ANC stalwart Andrew Mlangeni at his funeral service in Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa, 29 July 2020. EPA-EFE/BABA JIYANE / GCIS HANDOUT HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES
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