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Former finance minister Tito Mboweni's funeral will be on Saturday in Limpopo. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
- Tito Mboweni's funeral will be on Saturday in Limpopo.
- President Cyril Ramaphosa declared that Mboweni will receive a state funeral.
- Mbalula described Mboweni as an intellectual who did not shy away from engaging opponents.
President Cyril Ramaphosa declared that former Reserve Bank governor and finance minister Tito Mboweni would receive a state funeral.
The Presidency, on Tuesday night, announced that Mboweni would be given a category 2 special official funeral following his death on Saturday after a short illness.
Mboweni will be laid to rest in Nkowankowa Stadium in Tzaneen, Limpopo, on Saturday.
The Presidency revealed that Mboweni would receive a state funeral just hours after ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula told journalists outside Mboweni's home that he "deserves a state funeral; he served our people."
Mbalula and ANC Gauteng leaders visited Mboweni's family at his Killarney home in Johannesburg.
The ANC said it was in talks with the family about possibly holding a memorial service for Mboweni next week.
Reflecting on Mboweni's leadership, Mbalula described the former Reserve Bank governor as an intellectual who was not afraid to engage with opponents.
Mbalula said:
Comrade Tito was an intellectual, no doubt about it. He was an economist, an all-round political intellectual, revolutionary, erudite, and a loyal servant of the African National Congress. That was Tito Mboweni to us.
He added that Mboweni could interact with anyone on any topic.
"That is what he was to everyone. You may think that something is very difficult, but for Comrade Tito, it was very easy for him to unpack and engage, and he was not afraid of opponents, strategic opponents, and he would not confuse a strategic opponent with an enemy," Mbalula said.
READ | Tito Mboweni lauded by political friend and foe alike
Mbalula said this was among the reasons why Mboweni had reached out to the EFF after its electoral decline and urged South Africans not to cast the 10-year-old party aside.
He added:
He was a versatile political animal - but, at the same time, in a true ANC style, he was not afraid of strategic opponents. He understood the message because he believed in the theory of the revolution... that it is superior.
Mboweni would be remembered among the architect generation, which was led by Thabo Mbeki, Trevor Manuel and others, who laid the foundation for macro-economic stability in the country, Mbalula said.
He also reflected on his time in Cabinet with Mboweni, who had been appointed as finance minister at the time.
"He implemented those austerity measures [with ease], and he was very, very concerned about state assets that were taking a lot from the fiscal," Mbalula said.
He added that Mboweni had been at the forefront of ensuring that card-carrying ministers and deputy ministers were below R2 million and R1.2 million.
He said the strict implementation of austerity measures saw public office bearers drive cars that cost the taxpayer no more than R700 000.
Despite no longer serving on the ANC's national executive committee (NEC), Mbalula said Mboweni remained involved with the party's business.
"He was no longer a member of the NEC by his choice. He said, 'No, I'm giving you young chaps to take over'. But he was not missing in action. He would call me... I called him the brother leader.
"So, his call would come in, and he would also share his ideas. He would ask and question what's happening about this and that in the organisation and then give his advice.
"We have really lost. We are poorer without him as a movement and as a people of South Africa as a whole, and we are telling the family to draw solace from the knowledge that you are not alone. We have all lost with the passing of Comrade Tito," Mbalula said.
