Former labour minister Membathisi Mdladlana will be honoured with a special official funeral category 2 ceremony, according to Acting President Paul Mashatile.
The funeral service for Mdladlana, who passed away on Friday at the age of 72 following a brief illness, is set for this Saturday in Cape Town.
Mashatile acknowledged the important contributions Mdladlana made to South Africa during his career and offered his condolences to his family and friends.
Mdladlana, a former school principal and teacher by profession, rose to prominence in South Africa’s political scene in 1994 when he was elected to the nation’s first democratic Parliament.
According to Mashatile, Mdladlana was named minister of labour by the late president Nelson Mandela in 1998.
He held the same position under presidents Thabo Mbeki, Kgalema Motlanthe, and Jacob Zuma. However, Mdladlana was left out of the loop when Zuma reorganised his cabinet.
Mashatile said that Mdladlana’s leadership at a pivotal juncture in South Africa’s history changed labour laws forever.
National flag to fly at half mast
In keeping with the respect and recognition Mdladlana received during his career in public service, the South African Police Service will organise ceremonial aspects of the special official funeral.
Mashatile has announced that, in accordance with the funeral plans, the national flag will be flown at half mast throughout the country from Wednesday morning until the funeral’s evening on Saturday.
Details about the funeral service will be announced soon, he said, so that South Africans can honour a leader who was instrumental in forming the country’s labour scene.
Mdladlana was born in May 1952 in the Eastern Cape.
From 1972 until 1981, he was employed as a teacher at Vukukhanye Primary School in Gugulethu, which is outside of Cape Town.
The former minister was ambassador to Burundi and high commissioner to Canada after leaving the labour ministry.
