Gwede Mantashe is not dead: ANC

Minister of minerals and energy Gwede Mantashe is alive and well.

This was confirmed by the African National Congress (ANC) on Thursday, which dismissed online claims that he had died. Mantashe was recently diagnosed with Covid-19 and hospitalised.

ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe said the rumours doing the rounds on social media were “heartless, inhumane, untrue and insensitive”.

“To pronounce a person dead while they are still alive is not only insensitive and evil, it also goes against the spirit of ubuntu,” he said.

The party's deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte reportedly spoke with Mantashe, who gave an update to his condition.

“He is recovering very well,” said Mabe.

South Africans have since been urged to refrain from “deliberately spreading fake news which infringes on the dignity and privacy of others”.

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