By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Newly-elected City of Johannesburg Mayor Jolidee Matongo has died in a car crash.
Circumstances around the accident that the mayor was involved in are not yet clear and an official statement is expected to be issued.
Matongo had earlier on Saturday accompanied President Cyril Ramaphosa in Soweto, to campaign for the ANC ahead of this year’s municipal elections.
Matongo became the third mayor in the City since local government elections in 2016, with the City first being led by former DA member Herman Mashaba, followed by Geoff Makhubo, who died last month from Covid-19-related complications at the age of 53.
The ANC, with 124 seats in the council, required an additional 12 votes from other parties to install Matongo.
Matongo, 46, hails from Dube in Soweto and was a member of the ANC Johannesburg regional executive committee. He had a diploma in public management and development, a B-Tech degree in public management and a post-graduate diploma in management.
He was also currently pursuing a master’s degree in public management and lived in Lenasia,South of Johannesburg.
Matongo was among the three ANC greater Johannesburg members who were the first to be subjected to the governing party’s new selection process, which seeks to employ only those with the appropriate skills in leadership positions.
He was previously an operations manager in Johannesburg’s housing department and later became the City’s deputy director of youth development.
Thereafter he went on to become a councillor in the Johannesburg metro ahead of his appointment as a strategic adviser of the member of the mayoral committee for finance in 2011.
At the tender age of 13, Matongo took up student politics in Dube, Soweto and Subsequently became a member of the ANC’s Youth League, where he was elected regional chairperson.
He had served as a member of the Johannesburg ANC regional executive committee for 18 years.
This is a developing story.