By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Anti-Apartheid activist and state capture whistleblower Vytjie Mabel Mentor has been laid to rest in Galeshewe, Kimberley
Friends and colleagues of Mentor, who passed on last week after spending months in hospital, were in attendance to bid her farewell.
Her funeral was held at the Mayibuye Centre in Galeshewe. The service commenced this morning at 07:00 and her cortege left for burial at 10:00.
Mentor was laid to rest at the West End Cemetery.
She served as a member of the National Assembly from 2002 until 2014 and as the ANC’s caucus chairperson between 2004 and 2008.
Mentor quit the ANC in 2019, joined ACDP and died as a member of Action SA.
Northern Cape Premier, Zamani Saul, has described her as someone who was forthright, respectful and uncompromising.
Saul was speaking at Mentor’s funeral in Kimberley.
“She was very respectful in all her robustness, stubbornness. She had great respect for people and their views. She was forthright and uncompromising. It was an anti-corruption stance that she took, and because of that, she got isolated and prosecuted,” said Saul.
Mentor blew the whistle on the notorious Gupta brothers’ shady dealings with the government and told the State Capture Commission of Inquiry, chaired by Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, that the notorious brothers also eyed the Northern Cape for its mines.
Mentor was born as Mabel Patronella Mentor on 19 October 1963 in the former Cape Province. Before 1994, the Cape Province was divided into the new Eastern Cape, Northern Cape, and Western Cape provinces.
Mentor also matriculated from the Batlhaping High School in Taung, located in the neighbouring province of North West.
Mentor, 58, died after a protracted illness. She is survived by her three children and her siblings.