Slain Black Consciousness stalwart Dr Gomolemo Mokae will be laid to rest in a funeral ceremony to be attended by throngs of political allies and foes alike today, Tuesday March 11.
Dr Mokae was found murdered in his Ga-Rankuwa Zone1 home on March 5, having been last seen alive on February 28. Police say his body was in a decomposing state when concerned neighbours went inside his home after not seeing him for days.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has led a chorus of condolences to the Mokae family, and so did the Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba. Across the social media platforms, many people have expressed shock and disbelief at the brutal manner in which the “People’s Doctor” met his demise.
Dr Mokae lived and ran his practice in Ramogodi village next to Ga-Rankuwa, where access to health facilities was a desperate scarcity.
Residents remember him as a doctor who treated destitute patients without charge. To him, helping the needy was not charity, it was solidarity. Hence, his resolve not to relocate to the rarefied atmosphere of the leafy suburbs, and live among his people. Sadly, it is the same community that he sought to uplift that eventually stole his life.
Dr Mokae was a man of many talents. He wrote several books and English and his native language Setswana. One of his Setswana books, Masego, is a prescribed text book for the Grade 12 learners in SA.
He also wrote a number of Television scripts, including Gaabo Motho (A person’s home). He also wrote an authorized biography of Robert McBride, an ANC underground operative who was sentenced to death by the apartheid government and was only saved by the Mandela-led negotiations for a peaceful settlement at the turn of the 1990’s.
Dr Mokae’s plays were played on national TV by the SABC. He was also a one-time Chair of the National Arts Council.
He caught more fame as a political heavyweight of note when he became the Publicity Secretary for the Azanian People’s Organisation (AZAPO) at the height of apartheid.
His funeral service is expected to attract large crowds in Ga-Rankuwa before proceeding to the nearby Kgabalatsane cemetery. Dr Mokae is survived by his son, Kagiso Bantubonke Mokae, whom he named after the Black Consciousness father, Steve Bantu Biko.
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