The IFP's KZN Provincial Spokesperson, Mr VB Ndlovu, today announced that the funeral service of Mr Thomas Mandlenkosi Shabalala, IFP National Council member, who was killed on Friday, will take place on Sunday, 30th January 2005, at the T M Shabalala Sports Ground in Lindelani, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. The service is expected to begin at 10h00.

(Should you require directions to venue please contact Mr Bonga Nzuza on 083 516 2351)

Thomas Mandlenkosi Shabalala was born on 1st March 1941 in Ekuphumuleni, Ladysmith. After matriculating in 1960 he worked in the industrial sector in Durban. In 1991 he was elected to the KwaZulu Legislative Assembly and in the first national elections in 1994 he was elected to the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature. In 2003 he took up his seat in the National Legislature.

Thomas Mandlenkosi Shabalala was a multi-faceted man; a community leader, a businessman, a husband, a father and a friend. Mshengu was a man who rose to the occasion; a man who would not stand back and let others dictate; he was a man of the circumstances around him and he took it all in his stride.

Thomas Shabalala was a dedicated community leader, who took up the plight of the community he lived in and was pivotal in establishing infrastructure in the Lindelani informal settlement, including water and roads, and the setting up of the Lindelani Housing Development Project in 1996.

He was a dedicated family man who in his time of grief at the loss of two of his children to HIV/Aids set an example to all by revealing the cause of their deaths and committing himself to working towards stemming the tide of this pandemic.