The ANC's Interim Provincial Committee (IPC) spokesperson, Oupa Khoabane, confirms that Heinrich Charl Smith indeed passed on. He says they have heard about the news of his passing and that party officials will be visiting the family on Sunday 18 September 2022. 

Another ANC MPL and ousted Chief Whip, Vusi Tshabalala, reacted to the news and described it  as painful. Smith, who is affectionately known as "Sandlana" in his circle of comrades and the opposition party, is the chairperson of the Free State Legislature Committee for Education, Health and Social Services and has been in the position since 28 February 2022. He is also a member of an Ad Hoc Committee on Petitions. According to a source in the upper echelons of the party, Smith was found at one of the guest houses in Bayswater in Bloemfontein on Saturday 17 September.  Smith was also a member of the Public Works, Infrastructure, Roads, Transport and Human Settlements Legislature Committee in 2019.

Smith once committed governments' efforts to combating  the reality of climate change. In one of his responses to questions from opposition parties he mentioned that "Climate change is already a reality posing significant social, economic and environmental risks and challenges globally, but also poses a serious threat to the planet and people. Like many other developing countries, South Africa is particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and has been identified as one of the countries that need to adopt greater urgency in tackling challenges posed by climate change, which is why South Africa has been tasked with ensuring the balance of economic growth and transformation with the sustainable use of environmental resources and responding to climate change".

In September 2021, an ANC councillor was murdered in Meloding in Virginia in the Free State. 

ALSO READ: ANC member killed in FS

The councillor was killed two months before the Local Government Elections (LGE) held on 1 November 2021.

However, eight months later, after the killing of the councillor, a former ward councillor in that area was arrested by the police for the alleged murder of the deceased.

A former ward councillor was arrested along with two accomplices in May 2022.

Police spokesperson, Motantsi Makhele, said the police had discovered that the two suspects were allegedly involved in the murder of Piet Moletsane, who was shot and killed in 2021 while leaving a tavern where he was working. Makhele said the deceased was active in politics and was one of the ward councillor candidates before he was shot.

ALSO READ: Former ward councillor arrested in Free State

It’s not yet clear what might have led to Smith's death as authorities, including the police, are yet to comment on OFM News' inquiry.

OFM News