{UAH} COLLINS CHABANE DIES IN A CAR ACCIDENT

South African Minister Collins Chabane, Who Planned Mandela Funeral, Dies

Two police officers who were acting as bodyguards also die in car crash

Associated Press

March 15, 2015 8:44 a.m. ET

JOHANNESBURG—A South African cabinet minister who led the planning of the 2013 funeral of Nelson Mandela died in a car crash early Sunday, authorities said.

The death of Collins Chabane, minister in charge of public service and administration, is a big loss to the government and the country, President Jacob Zuma said in a statement.

The main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, noted in a condolence message that two police officers who were acting as Mr. Chabane’s bodyguards also died in the crash.

Mr. Chabane’s car hit a truck that was making a U-turn on a highway near Polokwane, the capital of South Africa’s Limpopo province, South African media reported.

The truck driver, who wasn’t injured, is being investigated on a possible charge of negligent killing but hasn't been arrested, the South African Press Association quoted police as saying.

Mr. Chabane planned the funeral of Mr. Mandela, the antiapartheid leader and former prisoner who became president in South Africa’s first all-race elections, with “great dignity and efficiency,” Mr. Zuma’s office said.

The funeral ceremonies for Mr. Mandela included a stadium memorial attended by U.S. President Barack Obama and dozens of other leaders from around the world.

Mr. Chabane was a veteran of the fight against apartheid, the system of white racist rule that ended with Mandela’s election in 1994, according to the presidential office. He was also a long-serving member of the national executive committee of South Africa’s ruling party, the African National Congress.

 

 

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