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[FILE IMAGE]: Deputy Minister Dr. Namane Dickson Masemola delivering a forward-looking address at SALGA’s Provincial Members’ Assembly, September 2025.
African National Congress (ANC) National Executive Committee (NEC) member Dickson Masemola says the late Nathi Mthethwa played a pivotal role in building a democratic South Africa.
The 58-year-old diplomat and long-serving cabinet minister fell to his death from a Paris hotel on Tuesday last week.
French authorities are investigating the circumstances of his death.
Masemola was among the mourners who visited Mthethwa’s rural home at KwaMbonambi in northern KwaZulu-Natal.
Masemola added that Mthethwa was a political principal, strategist and was head of political education of the NEC committee at some point.
“The road he has travelled in the struggle against apartheid, the role he has played in the social transformation project and repositioning the country going forward and to this extend, he remains of the outstanding figures the ANC has ever had and has been able to produce throughout this period of our struggle,” says Masemola.
Video | Latest developments around Nathi Mthethwa’s death:
Inkosi Zuzifa Buthelezi and a delegation from the Buthelezi clan have also visited the Mthethwa homestead to convey their sympathies to the family on the loss of Mthethwa.
Buthelezi said he had come to pay his respects, not only as a relative of Philisiwe Buthelezi – Mthethwa’s wife – but also as head of the Buthelezi clan.
He says they are deeply saddened and shocked like the rest of the country over Mthethwa’s sudden and tragic death.
“We came this morning to say just say our deepest condolence, painful as it is, but there are no words to express what has befallen us as a family. We are one family, and what has befallen us as a country South Africa,” says Buthelezi.
Video| Inkosi Zuzifa Buthelezi clan pay tribute to Mthethwa family:
