EULOGY BY PRESIDENT CYRIL RAMAPHOSA AT THE SPECIAL OFFICIAL FUNERAL OF AMBASSADOR OF SOUTH AFRICA TO THE REPUBLIC OF FRANCE, MR NKOSINATHI ‘NATHI’ MTHETHWA
KWA-MBONAMBI,* *KWAZULU-NATAL
Programme Director,
The Mthethwa family, nesizwe sonke soNyambose,
Ministers and Deputy Ministers,
Members of Parliament,
Members of the Diplomatic Corps,
Religious leaders
Fellow Mourners,
We gather here today, in mourning and in gratitude, to honour the life of a remarkable leader—someone whose courage, conviction and compassion helped steer our nation toward freedom and justice.
Comrade Nkosinathi Emmanuel Mthethwa has been taken away from us, yet in the echoes of his deeds, in the memories we share of him, and in the lives he touched, his spirit endures as does the many lessons we must learn from his illustrious life.
The man we are laying to rest today was an unapologetic activist.
From the earliest days of his activism, Ambassador Nathi Mthethwa refused to accept the injustice of
apartheid.
Faced with laws that sought to divide, demean and destroy, he responded not with resignation, but with resolve.
Whether organising workers at the
Just Juice factory, organising underground meetings, mobilising young people, offering comfort where there was despair or organising for peaceful resistance, he placed himself on the frontlines – not because he sought glory, but because he believed in the correctness of our struggle for freedom and the dignity of every person.
For him living a life of activism was not just about protest – it was about purpose.
It was about committing yourself to something larger than personal comfort: justice, equality, dignity, freedom.
It was about refusing to accept the world as it is, and working – every day – to build the world as it should be.
A life of activism is not easy. It’s often uncomfortable, even dangerous. But it is deeply human.
In essence the doctrine about activism is – even if I don’t benefit, I will fight for others to be free. Even if I am afraid, I will not be silent. Even if I fall, the struggle will go on.
That kind of approach to activism is powerful. That kind of life is meaningful. That kind of activism changes the world.
He knew from an early age that the path of activism he had chosen was a difficult one and that it would involve sacrifice.
That he would pay a price.
The price would be dismissal from his job at Just Juice where he was a shop steward, a loss of income. Perhaps it was exile. Perhaps arrest. Perhaps the heartbreak of seeing comrades fall, families torn apart, hopes threatened.
Yet, even in adversity, Ambassador Mthethwa remained steady. He was a beacon to many, teaching us that freedom is never free, that resistance sometimes demands sacrifice, but that our highest obligation is to keep faith with the promise of human equality.
To Cde Nathi’s Mthethwa’s family: we know this loss is deeply personal.
We recognise the many private sacrifices you made so that Comrade Nathi might carry public burdens.
Today, we share your grief. We stand with you in sorrow, but also in pride: of a life lived with integrity, of a mission fulfilled that was bigger than any single person, but which needed people like Nyambose to bring it into being.
Today as we say goodbye, let us not simply mourn. Let us resolve.
Let us honour Nathi Mthethwa’s memory by renewed commitment. By ensuring that the freedoms he fought and worked for are protected. By confronting inequality wherever it still exists. By raising our voices for those still voiceless.
Let us live up to the ideals that inspired Comrade Nathi to fight for equality, justice, compassion and unity.
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Much as we are here to accompany Ambassador Nkosinathi Emmanuel Mthethwa on his final journey more importantly we are here to return Nathi’s soul to this community, which gave him its blessing to leave and join the struggle for the liberation of our people.
He joined the anti-apartheid struggle in the early 1980s when he was barely a teenager.
Yet that youthful courage and that commitment saw him rise through the ranks to take up positions of leadership in the broader liberation movement.
Following his brave role as a shop steward in the food industry and as an underground activist he was recruited and became involved in the dangerous and high stakes
President Tambo initiated Operation Vula. This was a signal of the confidence and trust that his comrades had in him. It was also a sign of his political maturity and his courage.
He was of a generation that came of age as our democracy was about to dawn.
It was a generation of young lions that saw the end of apartheid and ushered in a new era of freedom and justice.
Like our democracy, this generation was young. They were hopeful. They were full of vigour and purpose.
And at that young age, they shouldered many of the burdens of building a new nation.
Following the
unbanning of ANC, Nathi carried his commitment forward into what would become a lifetime of leadership. He rose through the ranks of the Youth League, from regional secretary to national executive roles.
He took on responsibilities as a branch secretary in
Klaarwater, as regional secretary, then working on national organising. He became Member of Parliament in 2002, and from there he took up positions of ever greater responsibility—Chief Whip of the ANC, Chair of Parliamentary Committees, Minister of Police, then Minister of Arts, Culture, and Sport.
He served in Cabinet for about 15 years in various portfolios—portfolios that carried great weight in the lives of our people: safety and security, policing, culture, sport and heritage. He saw public service not just as a position of power, but as a duty. He believed that government must serve, uplift, protect, and heal.
As government and as his political home the African National Congress and the broader liberation movement, we thank the Mthethwa family for your sacrifice in supporting Nathi as a young activist and in his political leadership endeavours.
As we lay this gallant leader of our people to rest what shall we say of Nathi Mthethwa’s legacy? What endowments do we carry forward from his illustrious life?
What can we learn from the life of Ambassador Nathi Mthethwa that would be inspiring firstly to young people and secondly to those in the ANC and those in government.
The life of Ambassador Nathi Mthethwa offers several deep and relevant lessons—for both young people and those within the ANC and government—especially in a time when many are questioning the future of the struggle, leadership and public service.
I would suggest that he taught us what courage and commitment is. From being a shop steward, to his student days in Klaarwater, to being detained, to holding high office, he never lost sight of what drew him into the struggle: the belief that injustice must be opposed; that people deserve dignity, rights, opportunities.
He exhibited service before self. Friends and comrades say he was disciplined, loyal, sometimes controversial, but always believing he was working for “we, the people” — not for self-aggrandisement. He understood that leadership means responsibility, accountability, bearing burdens even when the path is difficult.
He was an advocate of culture, heritage and identity.
As Minister of Arts, Culture and Sport, his work spoke to more than just policy.
He believed in the power of culture to heal, to unite, to affirm who we are, people of many languages, many traditions, yet one nation. He believed in giving young people space to shine.
As ambassador, he took South Africa’s mission abroad seriously: not just in diplomacy, but in forging friendships, alliances, mutual respect.
In doing so, he sought to ensure our story, our values, our hopes are known in the world, and that the world’s opportunities are open to us.
As Nathi Mthethwa started his activism as a young person what lessons does his life impart for young people.
Nathi Mthethwa didn’t begin as a Cabinet Minister or Ambassador—he began as a student leader in Klaarwater, organising at the grassroots level.
He joined the Klaarwater Youth Organisation, not for status, but because he saw injustice and believed young people could make a difference.
The lesson here is that you don’t have to wait to be powerful to be impactful. Leadership starts with action, commitment and courage at the local level.
Another important lesson from Nathi Mthethwa is that one must be willing to sacrifice for one’s beliefs.
As part of the anti-apartheid underground and through Operation Vula, Mthethwa faced detention and political risk. He accepted the cost of standing for justice.
Integrity may cost you comfort, but it builds character. Stand for something bigger than yourself.
Nathi Mthethwa didn’t give up activism after democracy was won.
He committed to serving over decades—in youth structures, unions, Parliament, the executive and eventually as a diplomat. His activism matured.
A cause for a just and democratic society isn’t a season—it’s a lifetime commitment. Stay the course, evolve, but don’t abandon your values Nathi did not.
Many who knew Comrade Nathi described him as a “disciplined, loyal cadre” of the ANC.
He wasn’t always the loudest or most public-facing, but he was reliable, consistent, and strategic. The lesson here is passion brings you into the struggle, but discipline keeps you in it. Organisation and consistency matter more than slogans.
The lessons from Nathi Mthethwa’s life for those in his organisation and in government. Mthethwa moved from activist to administrator—and while his time in office had its critics, he represented a generation who took the responsibility of transforming the state seriously.
He understood that freedom meant not only fighting for democracy, but building institutions, delivering services and protecting rights. Freedom without delivery is betrayal. Those in government must see public service as a duty, not a reward.
As Minister of Arts and Culture, he championed the role of culture, history, and heritage in national healing. This was often overlooked, yet it is vital in a country where identity was weaponised under apartheid.
Our role as leaders is about promoting national cohesion and unity and preserving the nation’s identity, and national healing. Leaders must safeguard the soul of the nation, not just its infrastructure. Nathi Mthethwa dedicated himself to doing that.
Later in his career, Mthethwa took up a diplomatic post, far from the limelight. That shift shows humility—the willingness to serve the country even without the recognition that comes with politics and limelight.
True commitment means serving wherever you're needed, not only where you're visible. Leadership includes sacrifice of ego.
Mthethwa remained loyal to ANC principles, even amid difficult terrains. His life invites reflection on how to renew the ANC’s moral centre—not through rhetoric, but through conduct.
Loyalty to the movement must not mean silence in the face of wrongdoing. The ANC must reflect, renew, and reclaim its mission in honour of those like him.
In the end to all of us Nyambose’s lesson to us is let your life speak. You are not entitled to a leadership position or any benefit. Organise, serve, endure and grow. You are not too small to shape history.
Ambassador Mthethwa was at one time the editor-in-chief of the ANC’s journal,
Umrabulo, and I quote from an article he wrote in 2013:
“True cadres never aspire to or have an uncontrollable lust to lead. The main motivation for true leaders is to serve the movement and the masses at any level.”
“The leadership emerges from the people, it learns to articulate and champions the aspirations, demands, fears and hopes of the people.”
Let your leadership be measured by service, humility, and fidelity to the people—not just the politics. Be builders of what was fought for.
Ambassador Nathi Mthethwa’s journey reminds us that it is not where you start that defines your legacy—but whether you remain faithful to the struggle for justice, the people you serve, and the principles that birthed our democracy.
Let his life be not just remembered—but emulated. We should go beyond just memorialising him today. We must take a leaf of lesson from his life.
To Philisiwe Buthelezi, his wife, to his children, to extended family: you have lost a husband, a father, a brother. The nation weeps with you.
The state may offer ceremonies, honours, statements—but none of that replaces presence, love, grief. May you find strength in memories: of who he was at home, the laughter, the small acts of kindness, the ideals he lived by.
To his comrades in the ANC, to those who knew him in unions, in youth activism, in Parliament, in government, in diplomacy: may you carry forward with humility what he showed by example.
May you keep alive both his ideals and his complexity—the understanding that leadership is never perfect, that mistakes sometimes shadow the good that is one, but that courage to stand, to act, to love one’s country, is itself a virtue.
Ambassador Nathi Mthethwa is gone from among us, but not absent. His life’s work endures in the laws, in the institutions, in the people whose stories he touched.
His voice, sometimes contentious, sometimes inspiring, was always part of the conversation that built our democracy.
Nathi Mthethwa championed the aspirations of our people and he did so with humility.
We will remember the Nathi Mthethwa who joined the underground movement barely out of childhood, a testament to a courage that few possess.
We will remember the Nathi Mthethwa who in his position as portfolio committee chair advocated for the rights of communities, and for the mining industry to be held to its commitments to uplift them.
We will remember the Nathi Mthethwa who sat with the victims of crime in their homes, offering words of solace and empathy – who during his tenure as Minister of Police spoke out against gender-based violence and opened victim empowerment facilities at police stations.
We have not forgotten the leadership he showed during violent protests directed at foreign nationals, nor his strong statements that helped to quell social tensions at the time. He distinguished himself as a true
Pan Africanist and an
Internationalist.
We know what his progressive stance would be as we have to deal with contemporary challenges on our continent and globally.
He would be troubled today as we hear news of the instability that is now unfolding in Madagascar and the cruel and senseless killing of civilians in the Sudan last night.
We have not forgotten that he was an advocate for the rights of our nation’s artists and performers, and that he championed legislative reform that would enable performers to benefit from their work, and render them less vulnerable to exploitation.
We have not forgotten his contribution to developing the creative economy.
May we be reminded to live with humility, and to lead with it even more.
To give credit where credit is due, and show mercy when we must.
To introspect more and judge less.
Ambassador Mthethwa served his people and served his country. For this we will forever remember him. And for his contribution, we thank him.
To the family, our thoughts and prayers are with you at this difficult time.
Hamba Kahle,
Mkhonto. May your soul rest in eternal peace.
I thank you.
