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The Chris Hani District Municipality said it was saddened at the passing of Nyameka Goniwe, the wife of slain anti-apartheid activist, Matthew Goniwe.
In a statement on Sunday, the mayor of the CHDM, Wongana Gela, said she “passed on after a short illness.”
He said her death on Saturday marked one of the “most painful moments in our district”.
“We are indeed thankful that we had a privilege to be part of her life and words are not adequate to explain the loss of this gentle soul.
Mayor Gela said Goniwe, who was the Speaker of the Inxuba Yethembe Municipality in Cradock, joined the ranks of local government in 2011 as the mayor of the Municipality.
Eastern Cape Premier, Lubabalo Mabuyane, has added his voice to the messages of condolences for Goniwe.
In 2016, she became a full-time councillor in the district where she served as the Municipal Public Accounts Committee Chairperson and later as the Member of the Mayoral Committee before she was redeployed back to Inxuba Yethemba Municipality as a Council Speaker.
Goniwe was the wife of anti-apartheid activist and teacher, Matthew Goniwe, who was abducted and murdered along with his colleagues, Fort Calata, Sparrow Mkhonto and Sicelo Mhlauli, by apartheid era security police in 1985.
