By Mziwandile Nkosi
Xolile Vilakazi, son of a former mayor of Ekurhuleni and high commissioner to Uganda, has died in a car accident.
Vilakazi, 20, and a friend, Sipho Motsamai, were driving on the R59 in Meyerton on Saturday when the vehicle - driven by Motsamai and belonging to his father - veered off the road. It plunged down an embankment.
Vilakazi's uncle, Billy Vilakazi, said: "Apparently the boys took the car without anyone's knowledge and were on their way to an unknown destination."
Motsamai suffered bruises and was treated at Vereeniging Medi-Clinic.
In April 2004, Bavumile Vilakazi died of a heart attack in Kampala, where he was high commissioner. He was on his way to fetch then deputy president Jacob Zuma.
His remains were repatriated to South Africa.
In the 1980s, he and Mosiuoa Lekota (minister of defence under Thabo Mbeki) and Popo Molefe (later premier of North West) were charged in the Delmas treason trial.
Vilakazi was elected an MP in 1994 and in 2000 became mayor of Ekurhuleni.