DR MOKAE’S FAMILY DECRIES LACK OF EMPATHY FROM GOVERNMENT

The family of slain people’s doctor, Gomolemo Mokae, has bemoaned the fact that not a single government official has visited them to offer condolences and support following his brutal murder three weeks ago.

This was said at his memorial service at Freedom Park in Pretoria on Friday.

Johnny Mokae, Dr Mokae’s elder brother, said judging by the fact that senior people in government including ministers often visited the bereaved as in the case of the recent brutal killings of CPF members in Soshanguve in Tshwane, it was expected that similar reaction should be given to the family.

“Are we living in an animal farm? We wonder,” Mokae lamented. He further said that if the centre cannot hold, black life would continue to be cheap in democratic SA.

Despite the family’s concerns, the Mokae’s said they have been humbled by messages of support streaming from as far as Brazil.

Dr Mokae (61) started practicing medicine at the relatively tender age of 24 in 1987, a year after graduating from the University of KwaZulu-Natal where his activism blossomed. He became known as the “People’s Doctor” for dedication and commitment to serving his people where they lived.

He was known for assisting destitute patients for free, saying assistance to the needy is not charity, but solidarity. Dr Mokae’s surgery in Ramogodi village was made up of tin sheets, just like the many shacks in and around the community he served with distinct love.

Dr Mokae was barred from practicing after 2003 following a devastating stroke that also caused brain haemorage. In his later life, living all alone in his family home in Garankuwa, Dr Mokae survived on the mercy of Good Samaritans and periodic earnings from royalties.