He has come a long way from being a garbage collector for the municipality, to ANC underground operative to top farmer.

Small wonder Limpopo premier Cassel Mathale led the song and dance at the funeral of Mbulaheni Tlou, 64, at Musina on Saturday. “We must sing and dance to celebrate the life of comrade Tlou. It is a life well lived,” said Mathale, who said he owed his position as premier to veterans like Tlou.

Tlou died in the Kensington Clinic in Gauteng on July 14, after being admitted in May this year.

“In memory of people like comrade Tlou, we pledge to serve our people with serious commitment, so that the liberation he fought for is not in vain,’ said Mathale. He also said government was more than committed to seeing to it that all, including veterans, got better lives. “They deserve a better life. It is not a favour, as they dedicated their lives to fighting for the emancipation of all of us,” said Mathale.

Mathale and his MECs, Soviet Lekganyane, Namane Masemola, Pandelani Ramagoma, Pitsi Moloto and the secretary of the ANC Limpopo, Joe Maswanganyi, and leaders from alliance partners had slept in Musina the previous night and all were at the funeral in honour of Tlou.

Family spokesperson Tshepi Pudi said the death of Tlou had left a void in the family. He said he was always full of ideas on how people could improve their lives and had given his life to the struggle to liberate his people. He said the family could have been robbed by death, but his legacy would live forever.

Born on Linton farm in Musina on April 21, 1945, he grew up in poverty. He started work in a dairy at the age of 19, later worked as a garbage collector for the municipality and when people cast aspersions on him for his lowly job, he obtained another as a petrol attendant. He later joined MTD mine as a driver.

He later obtained another job as a driver at Coca-Cola in Polokwane and also sold things such as masonja (mopani worms) to augment his salary.

At that time, what many did not know is that he was doing underground work for the ANC. He later became highly involved in political operations, including in Zimbabwe with operatives like Ike Mapoto. He went into exile and played a prominent role in Umkhonto we Sizwe. He returned home together with other exiles in 1991.