A minister who was ‘too good to die’

When the news of the death of Minister in the Presidency Jackson Mthembu came, it was as though a deputy president or even a president had just died. I am not surprised.

A teller at Shoprite, seeing me buying a copy of The Citizen with the story I wrote about the minister’s demise yesterday, remarked: “I can’t believe Jackson is no more, people like him shouldn’t die. He was too good to die.”

My wife sent me a WhatsApp voice note a few hours after the news went viral saying “I see Mthembu Jackson has died. I can’t believe it; that’s shocking.”

This ex-women’s leaguer adored the politician.

These comments echoed the voices of people from townships and villages who were touched by his humble character.

As minister in the Presidency, Mthembu was a de facto prime minister and the face of the Presidency. My first encounter with him was when he was ANC national spokesman. He was accessible and never shy to defend the movement he grew up in.

During his terms as ANC chief whip in parliament, I called him whip and firefighter, because in the midst of ANC divisions, Mthembu had to bring sanity back to the two ANC factions. Some of his party’s MPs were rebellious, but their respect for him helped him to ensure they never tore one another apart.

Former president Jacob Zuma, who faced the axe several times in parliament, should be grateful to Mthembu for stopping ANC MPs from supporting an EFF-sponsored motion of no confidence against him. Mthembu was not in the Zuma faction, but he played his role to protect the party.

He showed his true colours before the Nasrec 2017 conference when he campaigned for Ramaphosa and helped to catapult him to Luthuli House and then to the West Wing. It’s no wonder he emerged as Ramaphosa’s “prime minister” and front man after the 2019 election.

Mthembu was Ramaphosa’s eyes and ears in the executive and the ANC national executive committee and he left a lasting impressing on his comrades.

One is retired senior ANC MP and struggle veteran Mnyamezeli Booi, who said: “Jackson believed in collective leadership and being held accountable himself. He was the type of a leader who subjected himself to our collective decisions and leadership.”