He started his political career during the time of Bantustans in the Apartheid era, serving in the KaNgwane homeland regime.
One of the members of the former Save ANC Mpumalanga group, Mabhuza Ginindza, has died.
His family said the 65-year-old seasoned politician died after a long period of illness on 14 October 2018.
“The Ginindza family is saddened and shattered to inform you of the passing away of my uncle Mabhuza Simeon Ginindza,” family member Sibusiso Ginindza said on Facebook on Monday.
Sibusiso said his memorial service will be held on 17 October 2018 in Nhlazatshe.
Ginindza began his political career in the 1980s, serving as the administrative secretary of the Inyandza National Movement that governed the then KaNgwane homeland during Apartheid.
In a historical journal published by the University of South Africa in March 2012, Ginindza writes that he became a public representative for a period of 26 years – starting 1983 to 2009.
He served one term as a councillor in Matsulu (1983 – 1988), one term as a member of the KaNgwane Legislative Assembly (1988 – 1994) and three terms as member of Parliament in the new South Africa (1994 – 2009).
In 2001, Ginindza was named MEC for housing by then Premier Ndaweni Mahlangu, taking over from DD Mabuza who got redeployed to Parliament.
He also served as the chairman of the ANC in the Gert Sibande region.
In 2015, Ginindza became a member of the Save ANC Mpumalanga, publicly slamming the “sidelining of good comrades” by then provincial leader Mabuza.
The Save ANC Mpumalanga grouping, which had then PEC member Peter Nyoni as its leader, was opposed to Mabuza returning to be the chairman of the Mpumalanga ANC for a third term, calling him a “Nkurunziza of Mpumalanga” – a label that likened him to Burundi’s President Pierre Nkurunziza whose campaign for a third term in office caused riots and widespread violence in that country.
“Good comrades have been sidelined in this glorious movement of the people, for the people. The ANC is not the ANC we know,” Ginindza said then.
Sibusiso said his uncle was a “living library and he meant so many things to me”.
“My political mentor is no more, a gallant soldier for the liberation of the people of the Republic of South Africa,” he wrote.
(edited by MLM)
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