Pretoria – Forestry, Fisheries, and Environment Minister Barbara Creecy, has expressed her condolences to the family, colleagues, and friends of two senior environmental officials who died on Saturday.
“I have learnt with sadness about the death of the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment’s Director of Climate Change Mitigation Policy, Regulation, and Planning Mr. Mushudu Owen Mundalamo, and of Mr. Kobus de Wet, a Senior Manager in the SANParks Environmental Crime Investigative Unit (ECI) based at Groenkloof in Pretoria,” said Minister Creecy.
“The death of two senior environmental officials who had committed their lives to the conservation of our natural resources is a loss to the entire environmental community,” the minister said.
Mundalamo passed away on Saturday after a short illness.
He was a key member of the government’s climate change team and had recently been promoted into a position where he was playing an important role in the development of policy and regulations.
Mundalamo was contributing to planning, to mitigate the devastating effects of climate change being felt across the country and the world.
A soccer enthusiast, writer and analyst, and a die-hard supporter of Orlando Pirates, 42-year-old Mundalamo is survived by his life partner, Tshego Marumo, his son, Mufhatutshedzwa, and twin boys, Orifuna and Oritonda.
De Wet was stormed and killed by a hippo while camping in the Kruger National Park (KNP) on Saturday morning.
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He was an important member of the Environmental Crimes Investigation unit at SANParks and played a leading role in the effort to combat rhino poaching and a plethora of environmental crimes in and around the country’s national parks.
Sixty-two-year-old De Wet is survived by his wife, Almarie de Wet, his two children, Jacobus Jr and Leneldie, and three grandchildren.
