Saluting two heroes

WE BID a sad farewell to two of the most beautiful flowers of the nation, Ontlametse Phalatse and Struggle icon Philip Kgosana. Ontlametse was born with the rare progeria condition and “defied” doctors after they predicted she would not live beyond her 14th birthday. The “First Lady”, as she called herself – in reference to being the only black child known with the genetic condition – died last week at the Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital after experiencing breathing problems. She had turned 18 on March 25, having already finished matric.

During her memorial service, Beandri Booysen, now the country’s only surviving progeria sufferer, summed up the grief the nation was going through when she shed a tear for her friend. Tebogo Mothoa, of the Ontlametse Phalatse Trust, told mourners: “Ontlametse did not represent the illness; she was much more than that. She must not just be remembered for her disability.”

Ontlametse was buried on Friday, but will never be forgotten by her family, the Hebron community, as well as South Africa and the world.

Aged 12, Ontlametse touched the hearts of many when she appeared on TV, courageously telling the world: “I am just a normal girl.”

Kgosana died of cancer at Akasia Netcare Hospital in Pretoria last week at the age of 80. He was born in Makapanstad, Limpopo, in 1936 and graduated from the Lady Selborne High School in Pretoria in 1958, after which he was awarded a bursary to study commerce at the University of Cape Town.

He rose to legendary status when he stepped forward to replace a comrade who had been arrested on the eve of the 1960 march from Langa to Cape Town, aged just 23 at the time. He, too, was arrested a day after the successful march in a grotesque act of betrayal. Asked to call off the march against a promise of a meeting with authorities the following day, he did, returned and was promptly arrested.

We salute Ontlametse and Kgosana, and hope their struggles will inspire many generations to come. May their souls rest in peace.