Women’s League mourns loss of ‘loyal cadres’

The ANC Women’s League (ANCWL) in North West yesterday lamented that it had lost two “dedicated and loyal cadres”.

Environment Affairs Minister Edna Molewa and Morwesi Diswai, former regional chairperson of the ANCWL in Bojanala, both died at the weekend.

“It is indeed a great loss to the women of the country and the government sphere that comrade Edna Edith Molewa, who was a minister of environmental af- fairs, died at the age of 61 years, on September 22,” said ANCWL provincial secretary Bridgette Tlhomelang.

Molewa died in a Pretoria hospital after a short illness.

Her family said she succumbed to complications of Legionnaires Disease, a virulent form of pneumonia which was first identified after an outbreak at a hotel in the USA in the 1970s.

“We could never forget the leadership presence of comrade Morwesi Diswai,” added Tlhomelang. Diswai died on Friday at the age of 67.

“She was a former regional chairperson of the ANC Women’s League in Bojanala and made meaningful inputs towards the economic development of not only women, but of the youth in the North West province.”

Molewa served as North West premier from 2004 to 2009 before she was appointed social development minister. Molewa also served as water and environmental affairs minister from October 2010 to May 2014, after which she was environmental affairs minister.

“The two phenomenal women, whose role was to implement effective decisions that would shape the future of this country towards a nonpatriarchal society, will forever be honoured and remembered in our hearts,” said the ANCWL.