Jo’burg mayor dies in car crash

Herald Reporter

NEWLY appointed mayor of Johannesburg Jolidee Matongo on Saturday died in a car accident barely a month after his appointment.

He died while coming from a voter registration campaign with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in Soweto.

Matongo (46) was returning from a voter registration drive in Soweto township ahead of local elections when the accident happened.

In a tweet, President Ramaphosa mourned Matongo.

“It is hard to comprehend this tragedy, given the vitality and passion with which Mayor Matongo interacted with me and residents of Soweto so shortly before his death.

“Nothing could prepare any of us for this sudden loss, which has deprived our nation’s economic centre of its second executive mayor in two months.”

Matongo’s predecessor died from Covid-19 complications in July.

He was born in Soweto of a Zimbabwean father and became a member of the ANC Youth League after taking up student politics at the age of 13.