MKP activist and former journalist Canaan Mdletshe died in a car crash late this week. Picture: Zanele Zulu/ African News Agency (ANA)
Family and friends of Canaan Mdletshe who died in a car accident this week have paid tribute to the former journalist who turned into a politician.
Mdletshe, 47, had worked for several newspapers before joining politics, prominently in the NFP initially.
His elder brother Mdu Mdletshe said police informed the family that he died after his car, collided with an oncoming truck.
“When I went to identify his body at the mortuary, I saw that his legs were amputated,” he said.
Mdletshe, a senior leader of the Umkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) provincial interim structure, was in Mtubatuba, north coast, on Thursday after participating in a by-election held the previous day in Ward 15, his hometown.
The former Sowetan Bureau editor in KwaZulu-Natal Mary Papayya who worked with Mdletshe, an award-winning journalist, as his supervisor in the newsroom remembered him as an “exceptional journalist who had such a flare for language, for writing and for communicating”.
“He was so committed and dedicated,” said Papayya, veteran journalist and founder of the South African National Editors' Forum.
Papayya said while he was still a journalist at the Sowetan, Mdletshe worked really hard.
“He was an incredible individual and it is a sad loss,” she said.
After leaving journalism due to the collapse of The New Age (TNA) newspaper, which he last wrote for, he joined the government as the spokesperson for the late Deputy Minister of Science and Technology Zanele kaMagwaza-Msibi, who was the leader of the National Freedom Party.
Mdletshe became the NFP’s secretary general but resigned from the party and joined the Jacob Zuma-led MKP, where he was recently appointed as a member of the MKP former premier Willies Mchunu-led provincial detachment, an interim structure equivalent to the provincial executive committee.
Mdletshe completed his matric at James Nxumalo Agricultural High School and studied journalism at a private college.
His friend and former colleague in the media, Mhlaba Memela, who is now a government spokesperson, recalled that when Mdletshe joined journalism, he was more interested in writing about sports and eventually ventured into general news and then politics.
“Mdletshe was very kind, down to earth, a person who you will never pick up was angry. I have worked with him since 2003,” said Memela.
He said the opportunity to work with Mdletshe was presented when they were recruited by the late Mduduzi Dlamini, who had been assigned to revive Sowetan in Durban and later became its bureau chief ahead of Papayya.
“Mdu died last week and was laid to rest in Imbali township after he was attacked by people at Orlando in Soweto. Now his death is followed by Canaan’s,” he said.
Memela said during the friendship, “I taught him how to drive and I took him through politics, which he initially knew nothing about it”.
Wonder Hlongwa another veteran journalist who headed City Press in Durban said Mdletshe was able to take himself from journalism to politics, which was a natural progression.
“As journalists, we wish to appreciate his service during his life as we will never forget Canaan Mdletshe especially throughout his journalism career right up until he ventured into politics. He was a good man,” he said.
In a statement, MKP said: “Whilst we cannot fathom the extent of the excruciating anguish of the grief from this tragedy, the leadership of the MKP wishes to convey its deepest and most heartfelt condolences to the family.
“We would like to reassure the family that MKP is committed in supporting them in this trying time.”
Mdletshe leaves behind his wife, his three children and his mother.
Funeral arrangements were yet to be finalised.