Former labour minister Membathisi Mdladlana. Photo: Matthew Jordaan/IndependentNewspapers
President Cyril Ramaphosa has paid tribute to the founding president of the SA Democratic Teachers Union and former labour minister Membathisi Mdladlana, who died on Friday at the age of 72.
The former minister became a Member of Parliament in 1994 before he was appointed as Labour Minister in 1998, replacing Tito Mboweni, who incidentally died last Saturday and was to be buried on Saturday afternoon in Limpopo.
Mdladlana was a teacher by training and a former school principal and he was the founding president of the Sadtu, the largest teacher union in South Africa today.
He served as the labour minister in the Cabinets of former presidents Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki, Kgalema Motlanthe and Jacob Zuma.
Mdladlana was the founding president of Sadtu between 1990 and 1994, with Sadtu general secretary Mugwena Maluleke describing him as “a teacher of note” and “a revolutionary professional who was a champion for workers’ rights, free quality public education and a unifier”.
”He led the struggle for the transformation of education in South Africa anchored on people’s education for people’s power, the rights of teachers as workers and professionals and for unity among teachers and teacher organisations who were divided along racial lines,” he said.
Ramaphosa this week declared a Special Official Funeral Category 2 for Mboweni, and he is expected to pronounce similarly for Mdladlana next week.
Paying tribute to Mdladlana, Ramaphosa said his death was a loss to the nation as a whole.
“While we may try to prepare ourselves for the inevitability of such a loss, bereavement is never easy.
“We have recently been visited by a succession of departures of veterans of our liberation struggle and pioneers of the dawn of our democracy,” said Ramaphosa.
The president described Mdladlana as a “pioneer” in the education sector and who had been groomed for Parliament.
“(He) had been prepared for this role during an extended period of leadership in the South Western African Teachers Association), the Peninsula African Teachers Association and the Cape African Teachers Union before becoming a founding member and Chairperson of the South African Democratic Teachers Union”.
“He provided leadership in this strategic sector of our struggle at a time of great repression by the state and growing resistance by the people.
“In the year in which we are marking 30 years of freedom and democracy, Shepherd Mdladlana’s passing and that of other leaders takes us back in time to the sacrifices and struggles of our past, the hope with which we embarked on building a new society and the hard work it has taken since then to secure the gains we have made.
“Shepherd Mdladlana will live on in our hearts and our history. May his soul rest in peace,” said Ramaphosa.
Mdladlana was a teacher by profession and he formally obtained his degree at the University of South Africa in 1997.
From 1972 to 1981, Mdladlana taught at Vukukhanye Primary School in Gugulethu. From 1982 to 1994, he was the principal at Andile Primary School in Crossroads, Cape Town.
Maluleke said Mdladlana knew the power of education as a tool which could change the lives of children of the poor and working class to become key players to develop our country politically, socially, and economically.
“We will remember him for his belief in focussing on foundation and functional skills. He regarded teaching as a revolutionary task, hence he would passionately sing the song, ‘We can teach and strike at the same time’.
“It was during his time as SADTU president that the rights of women were recognised in terms of conditions of service and the principle of equal pay for equal work. It was under his leadership that SADTU campaigned for paid maternity leave in our sector.
“This was a major victory for women because becoming pregnant led to the termination of service for female teachers,” said Maluleke.
Mboweni, Mdladlana and former finance minister Pravin Gordhan are among a number of former ministers who have died recently.
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