Mogale says: Sala sentle, totsiens, goodbye, hamba kahle, Madiba

Ward councillors, MMCs and other Krugersdorp front runners attended a special seating at Krugersdorp Centenary Hall to pay their respects and celebrate the life of former president Nelson Mandela after he died at his Houghton home in Johannesburg on Thursday 5 December.

While Mogale City prayed, praised and gave their condolences, mourning continued in other parts of the country as the day of the seating (11 December) also marked the first of three days that Mandela’s body would lay in state at the Union Buildings in Pretoria.

On the sixth of ten days of national mourning Executive Mayor of Mogale City, Councillor Koketso Calvin Seerane stood on a podium with an image of the former president’s face on with two lit candles placed carefully in front, calling on local residents to continue to build on Madiba’s legacy.

He quoted the Washington Post, stating that a man likened to a living saint had died but reminded that his reconciliation legacy hasn’t.

Representing councillors from various political parties also took to the podium to say their last goodbyes.

Attendees broke out in freedom songs, emphasising Madiba’s name in each chorus as proceedings were concluded.

The NEWS noticed an emotional elderly man in the back seats who later introduced himself as a normal resident who wanted to pay his respects.

Peter Merafe from Kagiso shared a bit of his struggle living under the old apartheid area, but did not want to ponder on the past, “I only came to say thank you and goodbye,” he said.