BREAKING: Former Minister of Labour Membathisi Mdladlana dies at 72

Former Minister of Labour Membathisi Mdladlana has died. File Photo: Herbert Matimba

Former Minister of Labour Membathisi Mdladlana has died. File Photo: Herbert Matimba

Published 4h ago

Share

Former Minister of Labour Membathisi Mdladlana has died. He was 72 years old.

News of his passing was reported by the SABC on Friday afternoon.

Circumstances around his death are still not clear.

Mdladlana was the Minister of Labour of the Republic of South Africa from July 1998 to 2009.

Mdladlana was a teacher by profession and he formally obtained his degree at the University of South Africa in 1997.

From 1972 to 1981, Mdladlana taught at Vukukhanye Primary School in Gugulethu. From 1982 to 1994, he was the principal at Andile Primary School in Crossroads, Cape Town.

His passing comes days after the death of former Finance Minister and Reserve Bank Governor, Tito Titus Mboweni.

Mboweni, 65, died on Saturday, October 12 after a brief illness.

Mboweni passed away in a Johannesburg hospital, surrounded by his loved ones.

Before he was the Minister of Finance, Mboweni was the Minister of Labour in Nelson Mandela’s post-apartheid cabinet from 1994 to 1998, he played a pivotal role in shaping South Africa’s labour laws.

He served as the Minister of Finance from 2018 to 2021, and he was known for his pragmatic approach to economic policy.

He was the eighth Governor of the South African Reserve Bank, and the first Black South African to hold this prestigious role, serving from 1999 to 2009.

During his tenure, Mboweni introduced key policies like inflation targeting, which helped stabilise the country’s economy and currency in difficult periods.

He will be buried at his hometown in Tzaneen, Limpopo on Saturday.