Life is indeed very short. And unpredictable, too.
The death at the weekend of one of the most hard-working ministers, Edna Molewa, came as a shock to many of us. The last time I felt this sad about the loss of a politician was when Collins Chabane died in a car crash in 2015.
Molewa apparently fell ill while attending the Forum on China-Africa Co-operation in Beijing earlier this month, and never recovered. She was 61.
I personally never met her, except for occasions when I attended government functions and we ran into each other, but I knew of her work because it spoke for her.
I know a couple of friends who worked with her over the years, and they tell the story of a woman who loved her job and was passionate about issues of the environment and wildlife conservation. Molewa was a regular contributor to The Star, writing on key environmental issues. She was particularly interested in the protection of our rhinos, under threat from sophisticated poaching syndicates who sell their horns in China.
A former North West premier, and an MEC before that, Molewa shied away from the limelight and let her work do the talking.
She was a shining light in a cabinet full of dead wood.
No wonder condolences have come from far and wide following her untimely death, with, among others, President Cyril Ramaphosa and former president Thabo Mbeki paying tribute to her for her outstanding work. She served South Africa well.
This portfolio is usually reserved for dead wood and other beneficiaries of political patronage. Molewa made it “sexy” to speak about rhinos and other endangered species.
I hope that when Ramaphosa reshuffles his bloated cabinet, no dead wood is retired to this important portfolio. It would be an insult to Edna Molewa’s memory. South Africa - and indeed the global environmental sector - is poorer without her. May her spirit rest in peace.