‘To us, she was not a first lady, she was our mother and friend,’ Maggie Mathabatha’s daughter says

• The wife of Limpopo Premier Stan Mathabatha was buried following an emotionally-charged service in Polokwane on Friday.
• Several speakers paid tribute to her role as patron of the First Lady Trust.
• Deputy President Paul Mashatile urged mourners to continue her fight against poverty.

Tears flowed among family members and emotional tributes were delivered at the funeral service of the wife of Limpopo Premier Stan Mathabatha in Polokwane on Friday.

Maggie Mathabatha, 61, died last week after a short illness. She was a patron of the Limpopo First Lady Trust which aimed to alleviate poverty among disadvantaged communities.

The service was attended by various dignitaries, including some national ministers and members of the Limpopo executive council.

Her daughter Refentse spoke of how her death had robbed the family of a loving mother and friend.

She said:

A beneficiary of the First Lady Trust, Josphina Makubea of Moletjie village, spoke fondly of how Mathabatha had changed her life.

“I was introduced to her by a certain lady who was a domestic worker in town. Mam Mathabatha used to visit her.

“She saw the poverty I was living in. Today she’s gone. However, she built a house for me at my village,” Makubea said.

Other speakers reflected on her life as a member of the ANC’s armed wing Umkhoto we Sizwe (MK), and a teacher at various schools in Gauteng where she was born, until she became a public servant in Limpopo.

She became a member of the diplomatic corps in Ukraine where her husband was an ambassador.

READ | ‘She didn’t use her proximity to power to push her weight around’: Tribute to Maggie Mathabatha

She returned to South Africa in 2013 when her husband was appointed premier of the province.

Deputy President Paul Mashatile said she had never given up the quest to build a democratic and prosperous South Africa.

“She dedicated her life to the service of other people. We have no option but to pick up the baton and continue on a journey she started for our people to be liberated from the clutches of poverty,” he said.

“We must continue on the journey to liberate our people from the clutches of unemployment and inequality and may other ills that beset our country.”