Alex gogo who paid tribute to late Pick n Pay boss dies

The gogo from Alexandra who gave a heartfelt tribute to the late Pick n Pay giant Raymond Ackerman last year, has since passed away, aged 78.

Rosina Duduzile Moropa from Phase 2 in Alexandra, who was a finalist of the Mr and Miss Alex Heritage for the elderly in 2022, died on May 3, at the Edenvale General Hospital after being admitted three months back for a lung infection which later deteriorated and overpowered her fight for life.

Read more: Alex gogo pays tribute to the late Pick n Pay boss

Moropa, who was introduced to Ackerman by her late husband, Simon, who worked for Pick n Pay at its first shop in the then Transvaal in 1970, three years after the opening of the first in Cape Town, had described Ackerman as a man of ‘unwavering love for black people at a time when it was considered a treasonous sin to do so by the apartheid regime’.

Moropa was then employed as a cashier at Ackerman’s second Transvaal store in Benmore, Sandton, in about 1982/3. There were no CVs at that time and an employee was required to take the dompas [now ID] to the Post Office to register which was then validated with a stamp to prove one is an employee and the store manager signed it every month.

Also read: From Pick n Pay trolley porters to premier and CEO

“The Post Office stamp and name of the shop on the dompas which was signed monthly, allowed one to travel freely into what was then considered white areas as it specified your purpose there,” Moropa said.

In 1985, Moropa went to work at Pick n Pay’s third store in Gallo Manor. She was later promoted to frontline supervisor and was in charge of overseeing the cashiers after which she was promoted to frontline manageress until she retired in 2003.

She said each time Ackerman promoted black people to managerial positions, he would constantly be hounded by the apartheid regime that disliked what he was doing.

In 1998, Moropa was among a group of employees chosen by Ackerman for a trip to the United States of America’s Disneyland Resort where they were trained in frontline skills. “Three days after our arrival, Ackerman showed up unexpectedly, greeted and hugged all of us and later had dinner with us after some site tours.

Her husband Simon, who died on January 21, 2016, was asked by Ackerman to hire some trolley pushers and two of those employed at the Darras Centre in Kensington in 1972 were former North West Premier Popo Molefe and the late first black CEO of Pick n Pay stores, Isaac Motaung.

Upon her retirement, Ackerman formed a pensioners group known as ‘The Young Ones’ and every month they were required to come to the office and he made sure there was transport for them.

Moropa, who lived a colourful life as an employee of Pick n Pay, was buried on May 11, after a service at the Christ Embassy Church in Sandton.

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