Limpopo Premier Cassel Mathale told the multitude of mourners during the funeral of acting head of Local Government and Housing, Mihloti Hetisani Maluleke, that the government needed dedicated and committed people such as the late Hetisani.

He said Hetisani devoted her life to improving the situation of disadvantaged communities in Limpopo. “We have lost a person who had a passion for her work and a unique vision,” said Mathale.

A number of speakers accused the Makhado Emergency Services of delivering poor service. Hetisani was trapped in the wreck for about an hour before ambulances arrived on the scene. Her death followed after she was involved in a gruesome accident involving a truck last Sunday on the Elim-Louis Trichardt road. She was part of the MEC for Local Government and Housing, Soviet Lekganyane’s convoy when the Jeep Cherokee sedan she was travelling in collided head-on with a bakery truck.

Hetisani accompanied the MEC from Mpeni village where the residents had been complaining about poor service delivery, such as the non-availability of water, electricity and poor roads.

Before Hetisani joined the Local Government and Housing department, she worked as an edu-cator at the John Mbhendhle High School at Shihosani village. In 2002, she was employed as programme manager at the Department of Public Works in Gauteng before taking up a post as senior manager to the Department of Roads and Transport in 2004. In 2006, she became senior general manager in the Department of Local Government and Housing and she was also appointed as the acting head of the department at the time of her death.

The Limpopo Premier was accompanied by the MEC for Local Government and Housing, Soviet Lekganyane, the MEC for Economic Development and Tourism, Pitsi Moloto, and the MEC for Roads and Transport, Pinky Kekane.