The Thabo Mbeki Foundation on Tuesday revealed that former President Thabo Mbeki was excluded from the Special Service Programme on the eve of the State funeral of former Finance Minister Tito Mboweni.

Mboweni died at the age of 65 following a brief illness and was buried on Saturday in Tzaneen, Limpopo, in a Special Official Category 2 Funeral.

The Thabo Mbeki Foundation said in a statement that Mboweni’s family had approached the former President with a special request that he deliver a tribute at the funeral.

“…not only because President Mbeki was seen by Tito and his family as a leader, mentor and friend, but also because it was Tito’s final wish,” the Foundation said.

The Mboweni family shared a draft funeral programme with Mbeki, which included a list of proposed speakers, with Mbeki’s name, the Foundation stated, however, on receiving the final draft Mbeki’s name was omitted.

“On receipt of the final draft of the Special Official Service programme on the eve of the funeral, it was noted that all the names proposed by the family were included, except for President Mbeki’s. Despite no explanation being provided for this unexpected omission, President Mbeki accepted the changes without raising any questions and acknowledged that he would not be speaking at the service,” the Foundation highlighted.

The Mboweni family apologised to Mbeki for the “obvious omission” of his name from the programme and offered to adjust the programme to include Mbeki’s name.

The former President advised against it, stating that the programme was likely “designed with a reason” and that it should be respected.

The Foundation said Mbeki assured the family that no further stress should be placed on them during a difficult time.

At the request of the Mboweni family, Mbeki’s tribute is available on the Foundation’s website.