Ramaphosa vows to honour Jolidee Matongo's legacy

Matongo died almost a week ago in a car crash on the Golden Highway near Soweto.

Ramaphosa and Matongo had spent the day should-to-shoulder on the campaign trail ahead of the registration weekend for the upcoming local government elections.

The new Johannesburg mayor and long-standing ANC leader met his demise only hours later.

Tributes continue to pour in for Matongo as the city and governing party commemorate the 46-year-old described as a man of principle.

Ramaphosa visited the politician's family home in Lenasia on Thursday afternoon.

"It's a really sombre moment and a really sad one. He was a really outstanding leader at the level of local government.

"We interviewed him just a few weeks ago and decided that we should appoint him as the mayor of Johannesburg. We did so because we saw a great deal of talent, great deal of vision and visionary leadership for the city and we knew we had placed the city in good hands under his leadership.

"I had seen him in action, I had seen the way the citizens of the city had received him, even under very difficult conditions," Ramaphosa told media outside Matongo's home.

Before his rise to the city's top job, Matongo had served as MMC for Finance.

"For us to have been robbed of a man like this, who was promising so much to run the city and turn it around, is a real blow to us.

"I am truly saddened to have heard the news of a man like him dying so tragically in an accident."

Ramaphosa added that he hoped Matongo's legacy would inspire better leadership within the party's ranks.

"The work that he was doing must go on and we are going to carry on with the vision that he had for the city," he said.

This is the second time the metro has been without a major in the space of three months following the death of Matongo's predecessor.

Former mayor Geoff Makhubo succumbed to Covid-19 related complications in July.

"The next mayor who will be appointed and chosen will no doubt carry on with the work that he had started, and we will make sure that we do all we have to do in his honour, honouring his work, honouring his vision and just doing all that he wanted to see done," said Ramaphosa.

Matongo will be laid to rest on Friday.

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