By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered the eulogy at the funeral of ANC Women’s League deputy president Lungile Mnganga-Gcabashe in Durban on Saturday.
Mnganga Gcabashe, who died at the age of 64, was at the time of her death also serving as the Chairperson of the National Assembly’s Tourism Portfolio Committee.
Several senior ANC leaders and family members of Mnganga-Gcabashe gathered at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Convention Centre in Durban to pay their last respects to someone they described as embodying principled leadership, humility and unyielding love for her people.
KZN ANC Convenor Jeff Radebe paid tribute to her legacy, saying she will be remembered for her role in the fight against apartheid.
“I was released from the notorious Robben Island in 1990, comrade Mnganga-Gcabashe was already leading the charge in the formation of ANC branches in our township of Kwamashu and in greater Durban.”
Radebe said that Mnganga-Gcabashe dedicated her life to the liberation struggle during a time when politics were marked by violence.
“It was a remarkable feat for comrade Lungi, a young woman, to immerse herself bravely in the politics of the day considering the volatile and politically charged environment of the early 1980s and 1990s, especially here in KwaZulu-Natal.”
Born in Durban’s Kwamashu township, Mnganga-Gcabashe had strong ties with Pietermaritzburg as she was the former wife of city-based ANC activist Sipho Gcabashe.
Ramaphosa remembered Mnganga-Gcabashe as a courageous and graceful leader, who served the ANC and South African women with unwavering dedication and dignity.
He said the ANC lost Mnganga-Gcabashe at a time when the party needed her the most.
“Sometimes people can go through life without any impact, but today we are able to say that comrade Lungi has had a monumental impact on the life of her own organisation. We have lost her at a time when we needed her most, her honesty, dedication and the commitment she demonstrated throughout her life.”
Ramaphosa said Mnganga-Gcabashe was drawn into political action by deep desire for “peace, freedom and justice”.
“Her dedication was rooted in the values of her movement, the African National Congress and she expressed all this in the work that she did in the ANC Women’s League.
“She’s one of those outstanding women who walked every step of our people’s journey to democracy with fortitude and diligence. She was not afraid, she was not a coward and she was courageous,” Ramaphosa said.
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.