MEC predicted own death
‘I feel I’m going to die from a car accident’ Cop killings irk Obama
IN THE past two months, the late North West social development MEC Kgakgamatso Nkewu had a feeling she would die in a car crash, and last week her premonition became a reality.
This was said by premier Supra Mahumapelo, who was delivering his send-off speech during Nkewu’s funeral service in Molelema village in Taung on Saturday.
“She spent the last two months saying, chair, I have a feeling that one-day I am going to die and [that] it will be [as a result of] a car accident. She said I have a feeling that one day ‘these people’ are going to defeat me,” Mahumapelo said.
He said this after singing hymns associated with the ZCC, of which Nkewu was a member. But he did not say who “these people” the MEC was referring to were.
Nkewu, who was accompanied by two bodyguards, died while on an official trip from Mahikeng to Taung. Her car hit a cyclist and rolled several times before catching fire on the N18 near Vryburg.
Both she and the cyclist, Marcus Fourie, died on the scene. The bodyguards suffered minor injuries.
Mahumapelo said Nkewu was soft on the outside but tough on the inside, and that some people hated her for that.
He said Nkewu was one of the most dependable revolutionaries in the province.
“She was one of the members who were not lazy. She was active, loyal and full of life, without any sign of doubt. From her we had the culture of hard work,” he said. ANC chairwoman Baleka Mbete expressed concern about losing women in the party. She said as the ANC loses more women, especially the skills, leadership and the quality they bring, the party should strengthen its efforts to support women’s organisations, the ANC Women’s League (ANCWL) and all structures.
ANCWL president Bathabile Dlamini encouraged fellow comrades to pick up Nkewu’s spear and come and work for the ANC.
She said Nkewu was a wellrounded leader who was very supportive and loved everyone.
“She lived very deeply in helping our people and communities. She loved the struggle with all her heart,” Dlamini said.
Fourie was also buried in Vryburg on Saturday. WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama condemned as “cowardly” a shooting that killed three police officers and wounded three more in the Louisiana capital of Baton Rouge yesterday.
“For the second time in two weeks, police officers who put their lives on the line for ours every day were doing their job when they were killed in a cowardly and reprehensible assault,” Obama said in a statement.
“These are attacks on public servants, on the rule of law and on civilised society, and they have to stop.” A separate shooting in Dallas, Texas, earlier this month killed five police officers during a demonstration triggered by the fatal police shooting of two African-American men whose dying moments were captured in shocking video footage that went viral online.
Obama said he had offered his “full support” and that of the federal government to authorities in Baton Rouge and to Louisiana state as a whole.
“And make no mistake – justice will be done,” Obama added.
“We may not yet know the motives for this attack, but I want to be clear: there is no justification for violence against law enforcement. None.
“These attacks are the work of cowards who speak for no one. They right no wrongs. They advance no causes.”