ActionSA has announced the passing of Vytjie Mentor, who was regarded as the first to sound the alarm on ‘State Capture’.

Vytjie had been ill for some time, and this morning her family said that she had succumbed to her illness after being hospitalised for several months.

Mentor served as a Member of Parliament from 2002 to 2024, before joining ActionSA as its Provincial Chairperson in the Western Cape.

ActionSA President Herman Mashaba has paid tribute to her, saying, “She was a true patriot who served her country even in the face of criticism”.

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.

We extend our deepest condolences to the family, friends, and ActionSA family of Vytjie Mentor.

Vytjie played a central role in launching and growing ActionSA in the Western Cape. Her legacy will be long remembered.

Rest In Peace, Vytjie.https://t.co/I3T1rTjOMG

— ActionSA (@Action4SA) August 23, 2022

State Capture Allegations

In March 2016, Mentor claimed that in 2010 the Gupta family, on behalf of Zuma, offered her the position of Minister of Public Enterprises, if she could arrange that South African Airways drop their Johannesburg to Mumbai route, so that Jet Airways could acquire it.

She said she declined the offer, which occurred at the Guptas’ Saxonwold residence, while Zuma was in another room.

The family denied that the meeting took place and Zuma said he had no recollection of Mentor. In August 2018, she testified at The Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture. She was cross-examined in February 2019 after some parts of her testimony were found to be inconsistent. Mentor has defended her testimony.

In June 2022, the current Chief Justice of South Africa and the former chairperson of the State Capture Commission, Raymond Zondo said that there were too many “unsatisfactory features” in Mentor’s evidence and that the meeting at the Gupta’s residence, in which she alleged that a member of the Gupta family offered her the position of Minister of Public Enterprises, did not happen.

Health Issues

On 12 June 2022, Mentor resigned as ActionSA’s provincial chairperson due to health-related issues.

The party said that she will assume a new position in the organisation.

Mentor said that her ill-health was caused by her weight loss journey. She had bariatric surgery to lose weight but after she injured her leg, she gained weight again. She was later diagnosed with candidiasis.