She is credited to be one of the first people to break ranks with the ANC and raise the alarm on state capture.

[1] Mabel Patronella Mentor was born on 19 October 1963 in the former Cape Province of South Africa.

[5] In March 2016, Mentor claimed that in 2010 the Gupta family, on behalf of Zuma, offered her the position of Minister of Public Enterprises, if she could arrange that South African Airways drop their Johannesburg to Mumbai route, so that Jet Airways could acquire it.

[15][16] In June 2022, the current Chief Justice of South Africa and the former chairperson of the State Capture Commission, Raymond Zondo said that there were too many "unsatisfactory features" in Mentor's evidence and that the meeting at the Gupta's residence, in which she alleged that a member of the Gupta family offered her the position of Minister of Public Enterprises, did not happen.

[17] Mentor resigned from the ANC in March 2019 and joined the African Christian Democratic Party.

[18] In July 2020, Herman Mashaba announced that Mentor had joined his new political party, ActionSA.

[20] On 12 June 2022, Mentor resigned as the party's provincial chairperson due to health-related issues.