By Zamandulo Malonde
Family, friends, colleagues pay tribute to ‘friendly, fearless and disciplined man’ who was gunned down outside home
He was a selfless leader, a friendly neighbour, a sports fanatic and a visionary.
This was how friends, family and colleagues described murdered Nelson Mandela Bay ANC councillor and regional SA National Taxi Council general secretary Andile “Mayete” Andries when he was laid to rest in Kariega on Saturday.
Andries’s funeral service was held at a packed Babs Madlakane Hall in KwaNobuhle before the congregation proceeded to the Matanzima Cemetery where he was buried.
The emotionally charged morning saw those who surrounded him throughout several stages of his life pay tribute to the Ward 43 councillor who was gunned down outside his home last week.Andries was also the taxi council’s Nelson Mandela Bay chair and its national deputy secretary.
Mayor Eugene Johnson said Andries had been a fearless, friendly and disciplined man and ANC regional secretary Luyolo Nqakula said his death was untimely as the ANC, his family and Santaco had all still been looking forward to more of his work.
Andries was shot dead alongside his acting branch secretary, Lubabalo Kes,o at midday on May 2.
An eyewitness said the two ANC members had been working on a car when a white minibus taxi stopped and one or more of the occupants opened fire.
Police are investigating two murder cases.
Nqakula said he believed that both the ANC and Santaco — organisations that Andries was actively involved in — had no space for criminals.
“One reflects and asks oneself many questions, but we must also reiterate that between ourselves as comrades and the leadership of the [taxi] association, I am sure both organisations have no place for violence.
“Criminals must be treated like criminals. Criminals must be jailed,” Nqakula said.
Santaco provincial secretary Mthuthuzeli Madwarha vowed that Andries would be the last chair to be gunned down without the association responding.
“We will not take the law into our own hands [though] nothing is stopping us.
“However, what we will not accept from here on is another murder of our chairmen.
“This is the last murder of one of our own that we will stomach without responding.
“I promise you, none of our people will die [in this fashion] without a mess in this metro,” Madwarha said.
Madwarha said Andries had been peaceful and loving and protective of those closest to him, but also short-tempered.
Speaking on behalf of the Qhagqiwe Football Association, Andile Funani challenged the ANC government to honour Andries’s legacy by supporting local sports.
Andries was an active leader and supporter of soccer and karate in Kariega.
He was one of the founders of the Qhagqiwe Football Association.
“If the ANC says it respects [Andries], it must create a legacy for him,” Funani said.
“He was a big supporter of a lot of sporting codes who depended on him.
“Who will they depend on now?
“Build a stadium in his honour and name it the Andile Austin Andries Stadium, so that even when his family cry they can be comforted when they see that he did not die in vain.”
Andries and Keso were the latest in a string of killings of ANC councillors in the metro in 2022.
Daily Kasi News 