MAMPARA OF THE WEEK

Sifiso Mtsweni

Dead chairmen’s society

Even casual students of South Africa’s history will have heard of Solomon Mahlangu, the Umkhonto weSizwe soldier hanged by the apartheid government in 1979 at age 22. But how many of us can claim to know the name Sifiso Mtsweni? That may be about to change. As our Mampara this week, he is certain to become better known for that than he is as the executive chairman of the National Youth Development Agency. And just to make sure of his enduring notoriety, this Mampara has had his name carved in stone, on a new NYDA-donated tombstone marking Mahlangu’s grave. He claims it was the Mahlangu family that insisted on carving his name on the stone. Even if that was true, Mtsweni, you could have declined. You’re not dead yet, you’re just a Mampara!