The late Buffalo City Metro Speaker Alfred Mtsi.
Facebook/Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality
- The death of Alfred Mtsi, who succumbed to Covid-19, should encourage the provincial government to up its efforts against Covid-19.
- Mtsi was laid to rest on Friday, following a moving service at the East London City Hall.
- He was one of 299 people who died of Covid-19 in the province – in the first 15 days of July.
The death of Buffalo City Metro speaker Alfred Mtsi, who succumbed to Covid-19, should spur the Eastern Cape government on to double its efforts in fighting the pandemic.
This was the message delivered by the province’s premier, Oscar Mabuyane, during a moving funeral at the East London City Hall on Friday morning.
Mtsi, also a former mayor of the municipality, died on 12 July of Covid-19 complications at Life Beacon Bay Hospital, aged 69.
Mabuyane said the disclosure of Mtsi’s cause of death by his family was an important move.
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“We want to applaud the family for telling the nation that he passed away due to a Covid-19 related illness. This will help educate our people to take this virus serious and adhere to the regulations that government is putting to manage the spread of the virus”.
Mtsi was one of 299 people who died of the virus in the first 15 days of July in the Eastern Cape.
“Comrade Mtsi’s passing should spur us on to double our efforts of fighting this pandemic in every corner of our province as it is beginning to leave a trail of destruction, claiming the lives of 787 citizens thus far.
“In the 15 days of July, we have lost 299 people in our province to the Covid-19 virus and most of the deaths occurred here in Buffalo City Metro”.
Mabuyane vowed to honour Mtsi’s memory by drawing on his resilience in the war against the pandemic.
“We will intensify our new ward-based intervention approach in this Metro and other hotspot areas to stay ahead of this virus and save lives.
“Comrade Mtsi would expect us to be resilient in our fight against this pandemic because giving up and being hopeless is just not an option,” vowed Mabuyane.
Delivering a powerful tribute, Mabuyane described Mtsi as a “through and through” servant of the masses.
“He was an epitome of what a public servant is, always trying his best to solve the challenges of the people. He was a truly disciplined cadre of our movement, who never questioned the collective decisions and instructions of the ANC.
“He was a hard worker, always ready to take any task given to him by the ANC, no matter how difficult it looked”.
He praised Mtsi for his stints as both mayor and speaker.
“He came in [as mayor], got his hands dirty and left without any complaints when the ANC instructed him to become the speaker of council.
“In his new role as speaker, he restored functionality of the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality (BCMM) Council, which was rocked by constant squabbles that were robbing the people of BCMM of socioeconomic development opportunities”.
