A prominent member of the ANC Women’s League (ANCWL) in KwaZulu-Natal’s Mzala Nxumalo region, died in a car crash near Piet Retief on Tuesday evening, on her way back home from the ANC national conference in Johannesburg.

Nkosikhona Mdlalose was one of the province’s delegates to the ANC national conference which closed on Tuesday afternoon at Johannesburg’s Nasrec Expo Center.

Mdlalose’s tragic death has shocked KZN ANC members.

ANC Mzala Nxumalo secretary

According to ANC Mzala Nxumalo secretary, Ntokozo Nxumalo, there were three people (all delegates) in the car.

Mdlalose, the branch delegate at the conference, Sambulo Khumalo, who was driving the car and Selusiwe Ntuli, a member of the Mzala Nxumalo regional working committee, who was critically injured.

Both Mdlalose and Khumalo died at the scene and Ntuli was transported to hospital for further care.

Nxumalo added that the delegate who was hospitalised was later transferred from Piet Retief to a hospital in Newcastle.

ANCWL KZN spokesperson expresses her shock

Speaking to The Witness, ANCWL KZN spokesperson Fikile Masiko says they are at a loss for words.

“As the ANC Women’s League, we are deeply saddened by the passing of Mdlalose. As you know she was the chairperson of the ANCWL in the Mzala Nxumalo region, and she always worked over and above [what was expected of her] to develop the lives of not only women in the women’s league, but of those in her community as well.”

“She mobilised women in rural areas to show up in numbers to benefit from her programs. She worked with social development, and other stakeholders to help improve the lives of women in her area. She also roped in young women and organised a lot of programs for them too,” says Masiko.

She adds that Mdlalose was loved and trusted by her community.

“She was a leader of the community and people trusted her even when she was a councillor in her region,” says Masiko.

Police had not commented at the time of publication.