As Mabel Patronella "Vytjie" Mentor was being laid to rest yesterday, a young Eastern Cape gender-based-violence (GBV) survivor and author has said she will forever be grateful to the late former ANC MP for playing a mother figure role in her life. Mentor might have rubbed many a politician up the wrong way with her straight-talking nature and earned some few enemies in the political space, but to Nomawele Njongo, the ActionSA politician was like a mother. The Lusikisiki-born Njongo made headlines in 2006 after reporting and winning a sexual harrassment case against then ANC Chief Whip Mbulelo Goniwe.Speaking to Zimoja this week about Mentor whom she affectionately called "Queen Mother", Njongo said she was devastated about Mentor's death.

A POWERFUL DEMEANOUR

Recounting how she first Mentor, Njongo who has chronicled her ordeal in a book entitled Abortion by the Womb of Democracy, said it was while working as a Parliamentary administration assistant in 2006.                                                                                                                                                                                                            "I first met her in November 2006 in her office which was situated in the Old Assembly building and mine in the National Assembly building's New Wing. Prior to that I had no clue as to who she was, even her gender. I was, however, familiar with the name from the weekly notices of the ANC Caucus meetings, since she was its Chair at the time. I felt relieved when I saw that she was a woman. It took me a minute to reconcile the woman seated in front of me with the picture of a man that I had imagined on my way to her office. I remember the first words I uttered were 'I thought you were a man'."

A WOMAN OF ACTION

Njongo recalled.It was the morning after the night when Goniwe had allegedly invited her to a party at his Arcacia Park parliamentary residence.But when she got there, to her shock, Goniwe demanded sexual favours from her. Njongo said she was not sure how Mentor would react to her story as many within the ruling party had not bought her story and instead accused her of being used to bring down the once powerful politician. But to her pleasant surprise, she says, Mentor was friendly and welcoming.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   "We shared smiles before I narrated the incident and its effects on me. We spent hours discussing the issue. We  ended the meeting and planned to meet again the following day. I had said so much and I felt lighter. The next day she told me about the ad-hoc committee set-up to investigate the issue. She then discussed the issue in her ANC Caucus meeting and she got the direction from the ANC Caucus," she said.

AN UNSHAKEABLE BOND

Njongo recalled how after so many threats, she often spent most of her time in Mentor's office.                                                                                                                      "She advised me to write down my statement and told me what was going to happen next. Soon after submitting my statement, she convened an ad-hoc committee at Marks Building in the committee room of the Intelligence Portfolio Committee with all NEC members of the Women's League available in Parliament.                              "She said she was happy that all the women in the room were eager to listen to her and later escalated the matter to the ANC's disciplinary committee which found Goniwe guilty.From then on Njongo said she and Mentor formed an unshakeable mother-daughter bond.                                                                                                         "At some stage she took me into her house and cared for me like a mother cares for her daughter. I had no family in Cape Town and she became my pillar. She would wake up in the middle of the night and check me and tell me of how she loved me. She would force  me to eat when I lost appetite. My first time in a boat cruise was with her. She said I needed it to relieve my stress. She really treated me like her own daughter. I used to call her Queen mother. I don't care what others painted or perceived her, to me she deserved a crown. Her principle was to stand for the truth, even when it was not fashionable," Njongo said.                                                                         Over the years she and Mentor constantly kept in touch, but as the fearless politician's health took a knock in the last month she struggled to get hold of her on the phone.  Njongo travelled to Kimberley in the Northern Cape to bid her final farewell to her Queen Mother.                                                                                                       "My heart is bleeding for my Queen mother, she fought a good fight. I will always remember her unconditional love and truthful nature."