“Comrade Tito Mboweni leaves earth without any scandal” – SABC News

Tributes to former Finance Minister Tito Mboweni, who died yesterday in a Johannesburg hospital after a short illness.

The Activists and Citizen Forum pressure group has expressed shock at Mboweni’s death.

Mboweni served as the country’s finance minister between October 2018 and August 2021.

He also served in former President Nelson Mandela’s cabinet as Minister of Labor between 1994 and 1999.

The lobby’s spokesman, Dennis Bloem, says South Africa has lost a person who had served the country with dedication.

Bloem says: “He was loyal, principled and hardworking. Comrade Tito Mboweni leaves this earth without any corruption scandal. I know that Comrade Tito Mboweni hated corruption with a passion. His only aim was to see people’s lives improve . Comrade Tito Mboweni was a human being, very humble. We send our condolences to the family and friends of Comrade Mboweni and his political house, the ANC.” .

Labor rights

The general secretary of the South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu), Zwelinzima Vavi, has also paid tribute to Mboweni.

Vavi says workers will always be indebted to Mboweni as all labor rights were negotiated under him.

He says: “Today many workers take it for granted that they have the Basic Working Conditions Act which gives them the right to maternity leave, overtime on Sundays, Saturdays, lunch and breaks, they have the right to overtime . All of this would have been very difficult to achieve had we not had a sympathetic Labor Minister, the first Labor Minister after apartheid.”

“We will forever be indebted to him. Of course, he not only pioneered the introduction of the Basic Conditions of Work Act, this very Labor Relations Act, the Mines Safety and Health Act, which entitles workers to refuse to do hazardous work, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the Employment Equity Act, you name it all. These were all negotiated during the time when the Minister of Labor was Tito Mboweni” , adds Vavi.

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