“Tito never belonged to government, the ANC or even the Mbowenis — he was a citizen of the world.”
So said the former finance minister’s elder brother, Joe, at the category 2 state funeral yesterday, revealing that the family had locked horns with officialdom this week over what form the ceremony should take.
Mboweni told the Sunday Times the family had insisted on an “inclusive and open” send-off in which members of the public would be allowed to speak and reflect on who Tito really was. He said the wrangling was the reason details of the funeral were only finalised in midweek.
“We had a deadlock because we wanted the people to participate [in his send-off]. That deadlock was broken only on Wednesday, hence all announcements could be made only on Wednesday,” he said.
The Mboweni family had even suggested dividing the proceedings into one section that it would organise, and another that the government would manage.
Mboweni said in the end the funeral arrangements were “befitting”, though the family would have preferred ordinary people to participate.
Hundreds of mourners braved scorching heat to bid farewell to the former Reserve Bank governor who gave himself the nickname “Duke of the Duchy of Magoebaskloof”.
From 9am, members of the public, many wearing ANC colours, began arriving at the Nkowankowa Stadium in Tzaneen, singing and dancing until the official programme started at 10am.
Mboweni said his brother’s death after a short illness had scuppered their plans to take an extended break together.
“Our last conversation included [an agreement] that we need to spend five days together, and that five days never happened. I was blessed because when he took his last breath I was next to him. I saw everything so I have accepted [his death].”
I am not surprised by his love for pilchards because he grew up fishing and eating fish
— George Mlangeni
George Mlangeni, 75, a family friend who knew Tito Mboweni for more than 50 years, described him as a man who respected everyone irrespective of their social standing.
Mlangeni said the family patriarch, Nelson, had worked as a cook for a hotel group in Pretoria.
“Tito’s passion for cooking was inspired by his father,” Mlangeni said.
He said while growing up in Tzaneen, Mboweni used to go fishing in the nearby Nwaveti River. “So I am not surprised by his love for pilchards because he grew up fishing and eating fish,” Mlangeni said.
Another speaker, Mboweni’s long-time friend Ngoako Ramatlhodi, a former minister of public service & administration, said in his tribute that Mboweni had been depressed about the performance of the ANC in the May elections.
“He died a very unhappy comrade,” said Ramatlhodi. “We used to spend a lot of time discussing issues facing the movement and our country, in particular the fate of the national democratic revolution.”
He said that in the days after the elections, Mboweni sent him a quotation from the beginning of A Tale of Two Cities as part of their conversation about the state of the ANC and the country. The Charles Dickens book starts: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness ... The period was so far like the present period that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”
“This message was sent to me as part of the difficult conversations we had been having in recent times,” Ramatlhodi said.
EFF leader Julius Malema said on the sidelines of the proceedings that Ramatlhodi’s remarks showed that Mboweni had not supported the government of national unity.
President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered the eulogy, hailing Mboweni, whose first cabinet post was a labour minister, as “a true patriot” who “oversaw the construction of a new labour regime”.
He said Mboweni led the implementation of groundbreaking laws that helped to restore dignity to workers.
On Friday evening, potholes on the main road leading to the stadium were hurriedly being fixed. Dozens of repair workers were busy until after 6pm.
Noel Chauke, who runs a tavern and a car wash on the road, said residents had not been surprised — the road was also fixed when Ramaphosa was in the area for the presidential imbizo earlier this year.
“Now we should wish that prominent people from this area keep dying for us to get services. We even have had water supply for more than a day,” Chauke said.
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