Deceased Rivonia Trialist Andrew Mlangeni will be laid to rest this coming Wednesday at the Roodepoort Cemetery in the west of Johannesburg, government announced today.
Mlangeni, who was until Wednesday the last surviving Rivonia Trialist, died at the 1 Military Hospital in Pretoria after complaining about his abdomen.
His funeral service will be held at the University of Johannesburg, Soweto campus from 9am.
A limited number of people would be allowed to bid Mlangeni, 95, farewell due to COVID-19 regulations. Arrangements have been made for the funeral service and burial to be streamed on government’s social media platforms, including Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. The event will also be broadcast live on the SABC.
President Ramaphosa declared a Special Official Funeral Category 1 for Mlangeni. In terms of the Presidential Declaration, the National Flag would fly at half-mast between Friday, 24 July 2020 and the morning of Wednesday, the day of the funeral.
Mlangeni’s family has called on government to ensure procurement processes for Mlangeni’s funeral to be transparent.
“As we mourn this gentle giant, the family has a plea and is that the powers that be ensure the procurement processes around Bab’s Mlangeni’s burial ceremony are handled in a transparent manner, to portray the integrity and dignity that he stood for,” the June and Andrew Mlangeni Foundation trustee Professor Hlengiwe Mkhize tweeted. Mkhize is also Deputy Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and People with Disabilities.
This comes after alleged acts of corruption were uncovered in the funerals of struggle icons Nelson Mandela and Winnie Madikizela Mandela.
Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Patricia De Lille had said her officials were going to lay criminal charges against the company that arranged the funeral and memorial services of Madikizela Mandela. She alleged the provider inflated invoices, which resulted in the state paying
In 2017, Public Protector Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane found that R300m was misappraised in connection with the procurement of goods and services for the funeral and memorial services of the former statesman in December 2013.
Meanwhile, the ANC veterans blasted the party for allowing former President Jacob Zuma to headline a virtual party memorial service yesterday, saying he was unsuitable for the task.
Mlangeni was critical of Zuma and the party’s integrity commission under his leadership had called on him to resign.
“Comrade Mlangeni was most forthright in his condemnation of comrade Zuma’s behaviour, going so far as to say that, despite having spent ten years with comrade Zuma on Robben Island, should he be found guilty of the offences levelled against him, comrade Zuma should be returned to that gaol to serve his sentence. These were not idle words, but a damning indictment,” ANC veteran Fazel Randera said.
“Consequently, we are perplexed by the very idea that comrade Zuma was selected to conduct this sombre and profound homage to the last of the Rivonia Trialists and custodian of the finest values of our proud movement,” he added.
