‘We are here because a giant has fallen. We have lost a mother, a sister, a friend, a colleague, a comrade, a fighter, a believer, a true warrior,” said Kedo Mentor, sister of the late activist and politician Vytjie Mentor.

The late former ANC MP and ActionSA member Vytjie Mentor. (Photo by Gallo Images / Netwerk24 / Felix Dlangamandla)

Kedo was speaking at Mentor’s memorial service at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Strand Street, Cape Town on Tuesday, 30 August.

The former ActionSA Western Cape chairperson, who was heralded as one of the first people to blow the whistle on State Capture, died on Tuesday, 23 August after a prolonged illness that saw her being assigned a new role in the party in recent months. She was 58.

Early State Capture whistle-blower Vytjie Mentor dies following prolonged battle with illness

Mentor had found a home at ActionSA after resigning as an ANC MP. She was elected to Parliament in 2002 and became the ANC’s parliamentary caucus chairperson. She later served as chairperson of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises.

Kedo Mentor pays tribute to her sister Vytjie Mentor. (Photo: Xabiso Mkhabela)

Addressing the congregation on Tuesday morning, Kedo said despite being the older sibling, her sister was “bigger” and bolder in every way.

“She was bigger than me… a bigger people’s person, bigger in mind; she had a big heart. She was more intelligent. Braver. Fierce, fearless, more clever, talented, a better cook. Everything about her was bigger than me. She was the bigger one in every single way,” she said.

“I feel empty inside.”

Family members of politician Vytjie Mentor at her memorial service at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Strand Street, Cape Town. (Photograph: Xabiso Mkhabela)

Mentor was born on 19 October 1963, in Kimberley, Northern Cape. Her mother was a school teacher, and her father was the first black African police station commander serving in Welkom.

Speaking at her memorial service, ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba said Mentor used to attribute her political consciousness to her mother, who was involved in women’s development programmes in their community. 

“Her father grew nervous of her political involvement and sent her away to boarding school in the rural Northern Cape,” said Mashaba.

Mentor attended Batlhaping High School, in Taung, between 1977 and 1981. During this time, she came under the mentorship of her high school principal — a member of the ANC underground movement — “and began her struggle for freedom” at the age of 13, said Mashaba. 

Kedo recalled the beginnings of her sister’s anti-apartheid activism. 

ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba pays tribute to Vytjie Mentor at the memorial service. (Photo: Xabiso Mkhabela)

It all started with a banned book, Kedo said, called If They Come in the Morning by Angela Davis — a book about racism, incarceration, the US prison system and political trials. Kedo found it lying around at school, but Mentor grabbed it from her and quickly finished it when she was 15 years old.

“And that’s what started the fire for the Struggle,” she said. “Little did we know that she would go that far.”

After completing matric at Batlhaping High School, Mentor attended Hebron College, where she trained as a teacher. However, “due to her political activities and her fierce dislike for injustice, her teaching career was short-lived,” said her daughter, Masego Mentor, in her eulogy.

As an ANC political activist in Kimberley, Mentor was arrested and detained several times at John Vorster Square in Johannesburg. Masego said her mother was one of the youngest recorded political prisoners, embarking on one of the longest hunger strikes while incarcerated, going without food for 39 days.

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“Mentor was one of the most outstanding freedom fighters… She sacrificed her youth through selfless dedication to the struggle for the liberation of our country from apartheid subjugation and colonial dispossession,” said former minister of transport Dipuo Peters at the memorial service.  

Former minister of transport Dipuo Peters attended her friend Vytjie Mentor’s memorial service at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Strand Street, Cape Town. Photo: Xabiso Mkhabela)

Peters described Mentor as having a “passion and love for her people” and someone who “would never compromise her values and principles”.

“Mentor was focused, fearless, highly committed, outspoken, very argumentative and at times, shooting from the hip. And at some times, impatient and temperamental… a militant comrade who was true to what she believed. She was just a perfect example of leadership qualities that were required during that period of depression, to defeat and cut short the life expectancy of apartheid,” she said.

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Deputy president of the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP), Wayne Thring, lauded Mentor for taking an “uncompromising stand against injustice, corruption and moral dissidence” in her political activism.  

After resigning from the ANC, Mentor joined the ACDP in March 2019, before announcing she would move to Mashaba’s ActionSA the following year.

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“Her second home was the ACDP,” said Thring.

“Because of her convictions, she refused to compromise. She refused to bow to those who chose to be politically correct, safe and protected by the state.

“It was her passion for South Africa and her people that fuelled, energised and woke her up every day… She was a moral compass that this nation so desperately needs.”

Thring said Mentor was “misunderstood” and “criticised even by those close to her while sacrificing and spending time away from family. She had to endure pain.”

In 2016, Mentor became one of the first people to publicly blow the whistle on State Capture, when she made public that in October 2010 she was offered the role of minister of public enterprises by the Guptas if she helped influence South African Airways’ cancellation of its India route. She declined and made allegations about the incident on Facebook.

Mentor gave her evidence to the Zondo Commission in 2018 and was later cross-examined after some parts of her testimony were found to be inconsistent.

Daily Maverick previously reported former Western Cape detective head Jeremy Vearey saying the constant risks to Mentor’s security had “taken a great toll on her health and on her family”.

“For her troubles, numerous attempts were made on Vytjie’s life, including two assassination attempts in one day. She refused protection and told the police to use their resources to investigate.

That was Vytjie for you,” said Mashaba on Tuesday, adding that Mentor would always be remembered for her legacy of bravery, self-sacrifice and patriotism. DM