Monday, May 8, 2006

Stella Sigcau dies

Public Works minister Stella Sigcau has died at Durban's St Augustine Hospital, ministerial spokesperson Lucky Mochalibane said on Monday. He said Sigcau, 69, who was appointed public enterprises minister in the first post-apartheid government in 1994, died of a recurring heart problem on Sunday. Sigcau was appointed Minister of Public Works on June 17, 1999. It was unclear when Sigcau was admitted at the hospital, Mochalibane said.

Sigcau the third prime minister of the former Transkei for three months in the late 1980s before Major General Bantu Holomisa ousted her. She was born at Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape on January 4, 1937 and was a widow when she died. In 1954, she obtained a teachers diploma from the Lovedale Institute and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Fort Hare in 1959. She was a teacher at several schools in the erstwhile Natal administration, entered politics during Transkei's 1968 election and won a seat for Lusikisiki.

Sigcau became Transkei's interior affairs minister after that homeland's independence. She led the Transkei National Independence Party for 13 years until 1990, when she disbanded the party.

Source: IoL

No comments:

Post a Comment