Department to honour Kobese
DEPARTMENT of sport, recreation, arts and culture MEC Pemmy Majodina promised the Kobese family to rename one of the arts centres in Komani after Siyasanga Kobese.
Majodina was yesterday visiting the families of the three deceased artists – Akhumzi Jezile, Thobani Mseleni and Siyasanga Kobese – who were involved in a car accident on the N6 near Komani on Saturday morning.
Majodina’s visit started with the family of Kobese at Ezibeleni in Komani at 10am and was followed by the Mseleni family in Fort Beautfort. Today she will travel to Johannesburg to attend the funeral of Akhumzi Jezile.
“Akhumzi Jezile, Siyasanga Kobese and Thobani Mseleni have done their part in the entertainment industry. Siya was a child of the nation who did everything with all her power and she died as a young woman full of life,” she said.
Majodina said these young people preserved their language and, in return, people must honour and preserve the values they (Siya, Akhumzi) stood for.
“Siya has left a mark in us and the community. We will miss her golden voice. She was a gifted young woman who always mentioned that her father was a pastor,” said Majodina.
She thanked the Kobese family for raising their daughter for the country as a disciplined child and they will embrace what she stood for.
“Losing the three artists from this province in that accident is painful,” she said.
Majodina said the deceased were one, travelled together, had the same vision, did the same thing and died together.
“They died on the N6 where we have had a lot of accidents. Since Easter we had three deadly accidents that claimed lives of our people. There was a bus accident and before that there was an ambulance accident carrying 18 people, all on this same road,” she said.
She said as the provincial government they were planning to have a cleansing ceremony on the N6 road.
“We are working with artists from around the province planning for a mass memorial service for our fallen artists who died over the weekend. The memorial service will be at the East London city hall at 2pm,” he said.
“It is now up to the youth of this province to pick up the spear and go forward,” Majodina said. — tembiles@dispatch.co.za