‘It’s difficult to accept that Mpho, my son, is no more’
SA lost a passionate, dedicated, humble public servant
When my daughter was born, we named her Toivo ya Toivo. On her own, at age 10, she managed to get the telephone number of Andimba Toivo ya Toivo who at the time was the minister of mines in Namibia. Purpose of her call?
She wanted to know what the meaning of her name was since, besides telling her that we named her after Toivo ya Toivo because he was a fierce Namibian liberation warrior who spent many years incarcerated in Robben Island prison, we didn’t know the meaning of the name.
Her call to Andimba led to us (Muofhe and Toivo ya Toivo families) becoming one big family with regular visits either from us in SA to Namibia or them from Namibia coming to us in SA for decades.
Andimba Toivo ya Toivo used to call me “dad” because my daughter Toivo ya Toivo was his “sister”.
No matter how hard I tried to dissuade Andimba Toivo ya Toivo from calling me “dad” because he was old enough to be my dad, I failed.
I ended up succumbing to his call and I ended up calling Andimba my son until his death.
Then Mpho Moerane from nowhere opted to call me “dad” whenever we met. Equally, I tried to resist this tag.
Whenever I called him Cde Mpho since the nexus here was that we both belong to the ANC Greater Johannesburg region, Mpho refused me my right to call him Cde Mpho because to him, I was his “dad”.
He refused to call me comI rade. Here too, I gave in.
I ended up calling Mpho “my son”.
Like in the Andimba Toivo ya Toivo situation, when Cde Mike Maile broke the news on Wednesday that Mpho has passed on due to the injuries he sustained when he got involved in a car accident, the pain pierced me so deep.
I felt that I lost another “son” unexpectedly. It is difficult to accept that Mpho, my son, is no more.
I kept on praying and refused to reconcile myself with the reality that the car accident he got involved in could in the end claim his life and deprive me of my personable “son” in Mpho.
Mpho, my son, was forever available to lend a hand in helping those in need and in distress.
He was such a pleasant, joyful and wonderful person to interact with at all material times.
I am touched by his untimely death. Death robbed us of a great soul. Death is final, cruel and extremely painful. My prayers are with his wife Fikile, his children and the broader Moerane family during this darkest hour in their lives.
The residents of the City of Joburg in particular and SA in general lost a passionate, dedicated humble servant.
May my son Mpho’s revolutionary spirit rest in eternal peace.