Many attend councillor’s memorial service at Sam Hlalele Hall
DA councillor's memorial service in Tembisa.
The memorial service of Clr Maserishane Abram Debeila (52) was held at Sam Hlalele Hall, Tembisa, on March 6.
He was born on December 22, 1966, in Limpopo and died on March 2.
Family members, friends and dignitaries from the DA and ANC came to celebrate the life of Debeila.
Debeila will be buried in Sekhukhune land in Limpopo on Saturday.
Transport will be provided for councillors and members of the DA. They will depart at 10am. Women are asked not to wear trousers or jeans to respect the land of Debeila’s burial, as it is local chieftaincy land.
DA Clr Thamahane Mabenkayane has been with the family since the death of Debeila. He said they were very close friends for the longest time before Debeila joined the DA in 2010.
“He was a people’s person, always smiling and willing to lend a hand and help. We lived together for long around Vusimuzi where he got to be our secretary before he became branch chairperson in 2010 for almost four years.
“He was like a brother, we all have lost a warrior in the struggle. As a party heading towards the 2019 elections, we have not just lost our PR councillor, but a very instrumental figure too.”
Ben Muroa, Debeila’s uncle, took to the stage to represent the family. He said Debeila was more than a brother and an honourable person.
“He was challenging and the only one in the family who could give me an argumentative challenge. I do not know who else would do it now that he had left us,” said Muroa.
Clr Steven Makopo of wards 12 and 13 said Debeila was a very joyous person when they met in 2015 at Vusimuzi as activists. He was a radical but reasonable person, always speaking his mind.
“Last weekend, the week before his death, going to our party manifesto launch, he said he was not feeling well, but he made a joke about it. That was the kind of person he was because he had come to greet us at our bus before we left for our party’s manifesto,” said Makopo.
“We have a duty to uplift his spirit and work in the party as no one could fill his shoes,” said youth chairperson of Ward 11 Phetolo Montsha.
“We have to uplift his ideologies because he had equipped us well enough to continue where he left off. I will start a campaign for the building of an arts centre in Tembisa South to show his spirit is still alive,” said Montsha.
