STATE capture whistleblower and former ANC MP Vytjie Mentor died on Tuesday morning after a long illness, according to Action SA president Herman Mashaba.
The 58-year old former ActionSA Western Cape Chairperson died after battling a long illness.
“Vytjie had been ill for some time and this morning her family called to inform us that she had succumbed to her illness after being hospitalised for several months,” said Mashaba in a statement.
“It should not be forgotten that Vytjie Mentor was the first to sound the alarm on what we today call State Capture. We will keep the family and friends of Vytjie in our thoughts and prayers and ask that her loved ones be given the privacy to grieve during this time.”
Mentor served as a Member of the National Assembly from 2002 until 2014.
She was the ANC’S caucus chairperson between 2004 and 2008 and was chairperson of the portfolio committee on public enterprises from 2009 to 2010.
Mentor testified before the commission five years ago where she claims that she was offered the ministerial position of public enterprises by the Guptas at their Saxonworld compound.
She also told the commission that Ajay Gupta had offered her the post if she, in turn, would drop the SAA Johannesburg to Mumbai route so a Gupta-linked company, Jet Airways, could benefit.
She further claimed that she was introduced to one of the Gupta brothers by Duduzane Zuma and that he was in the Gupta compound when she had the meeting with Ajay.
She had also said that former government advisor Fana Hlongwane was on the same flight to China, but Mentor later retracted this part of her statement and apologised to Hlongwane.
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