Ricardo Mthembu – who served as the mayor of KwaDukuza for eight years before being deployed to the ANC KZN spokesperson position following the party's 2018 provincial conference ‑ died on the morning of July 8, 2020, in hospital, allegedly due to Covid-19 complications.
He was also a member of the African National Congress provincial executive committee, and served as chairman of the cooperative governance and traditional affairs (COGTA) portfolio committee in legislature.
Mthembu joined provincial legislature following the 2019 national and provincial elections.