By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The African National Congress Women’s League (ANCWL) deputy president Lungi Mnganga-Gcabashe has died at the age of 64.
The KwaMashu-born activist passed away on Saturday.
Gcabashe became the party’s Women’s league deputy president in 2023.
In a statement, the ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri described her as a dedicated leader, who was a committed builder of their liberation movement.
“Comrade Lungi passed away leaving behind a powerful legacy of principled leadership, humility, and unyielding love for her people. Her passing leaves a deep void in our hearts and in the liberation movement. She was a beacon of calm in turbulent times, a voice of reason when the noise was loud, and a steady hand in the rebuilding of our country’s democracy.
“Comrade Lungi was a mother, a mentor, a comrade, and a patriot. Her loss is deeply felt by the Women’s League, her family, her colleagues in Parliament, the ANC as a whole and the nation at large.
“But even as we mourn, we remember her smile, her soft-spoken strength, and her unwavering faith in the capacity of ordinary, people to change the world.”
Mnganga-Gcabashe was active in the United Democratic Front (UDF) and the Natal Organisation of Women, a UDF affiliate. After the ANC (ANC) was unbanned in 1990, she joined the interim leadership corps of local ANC and ANCWL structures in KwaMashu. Shortly afterwards, she was recruited to work full-time in the ANC’s political organising department, a job she held for several years until her resignation in mid-1997. She subsequently worked for two years in local government administration in Pinetown.
In the 1999 general election, Mnganga-Gcabashe was elected as a Member of the KZN legislature representing the ANC, which at the time was a minority party in the legislature.
During her five-year term in the legislature, she ascended the regional and provincial structures of the ANCWL; in the mid-2000s, she was elected Deputy Provincial Chairperson of the ANCWL in KwaZulu-Natal, deputising Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma. By the end of 2008, she had succeeded Dlamini-Zuma as ANCWL Provincial Chairperson; her deputy was Dolly Shandu.
In December, delegates to the ANC’s 53rd National Conference elected Mnganga-Gcabashe to her first five-year term on the party’s NEC; by number of votes received, she was ranked 16th of 80 candidates elected, receiving 1,695 votes from the roughly 4,500 voting delegates.
In July 2023, the ANCWL convened its first elective conference since 2015. Mnganga-Gcabashe received 325 nominations from league branches for the position of ANCWL Deputy President, the second highest amount of branch nominations.