On 28 November 2017, some of Mthembu's ANC colleagues criticised him for "colluding" with the DA to schedule a debate on state capture in Parliament in defiance of President Jacob Zuma and his colleagues in the ANC caucus who had already called for a more inclusive process to investigate state capture.[6]
Personal life and death
Mthembu was married to Thembi Mthembu. He had six children. His daughter, 25-year-old Nokhwezi Mthembu, committed suicide on 20 March 2019, at their Pelican Park parliamentary village home in Cape Town.[7][8]
In 2014, Mthembu was shot in the cheek while using an Absa ATM on Mandela Street in the Witbank CBD. The armed man and his accomplices proceeded to Mthembu's car, where four of his friends were waiting for him, and robbed them of their money and cellphones.[9]
Mthembu died from complications of COVID-19 on 21 January 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa.[10] A medical helicopter transporting one of his doctors crashed the same day, killing all five on board.[11]
