Thembekile ‘Kimi’ Makwetu

Thembekile ‘Kimi’ Makwetu passed away on 11 November 2020.

It is with great shock and profound sadness that we learn of the passing of my dear friend and brother, Kimi Makwetu, the auditor general of South Africa – a comrade of the struggle for the emancipation of South Africans, an activist and servant of the people.

I have known Kimi since our student days at the University of Cape Town (UCT). I also had the privilege to work closely with him during my tenure at the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) when he served as a member of the African Union Board of External Auditors. He was instrumental in facilitating the memorandum of understanding and working relationship between the APRM and The African Organisation of English-speaking Supreme Audit Institutions.

He was a man with a brilliant mind and of outstanding moral clarity who was dedicated to serving until the end.

Kimi’s untimely death comes at a time when he was due to receive his UCT President of Convocation Medal for 2019.

“I am of the view that the president of Convocation Medal for 2019 should be awarded to Mr Kimi Makwetu. He is known to many of us as our auditor general, who has become the face of the fight against corruption and malgovernance in our country. But he’s also one of us; a member of the UCT community, our alumnus who had to overcome his Bantu education background to rise to the top of our society, and be a model of merit, competence and excellence,” reads an extract from my report as the president of UCT Convocation, presented at our AGM of December 2019.

Indeed, you have fought a good fight.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the Makwetu family, his wife and children during this difficult time.

May his memory be a great and magnificent blessing to the world. He leaves a legacy that inspires hope and confidence in both the public and private sector institutions.

He will be dearly missed and celebrated by many in South Africa and on the African continent.

Fare thee well my dear friend.