ALI MPHAKI
TWO unique women who loved sport, especially soccer, will be laid to rest in separate funerals this weekend.
One is Mirriam Claudia Lekoro, 37, of Moroka North, and the other is Johanna Semakeleng Moshimane, 64, of Dube.
Lekoro, a teacher, died on Sunday at the Tshepo Themba private hospital.
Moshimane, who was a pensioner, died in her sleep after she had complained of a headache on Monday.
Lekoro, née Mashilwane, was the third born in a family of four. Growing up in Moroka North, she never allowed her humble origins to deter her from achieving her goals. After completing her higher primary education, Lekoro went on to complete her high school studies at Vungweni near Vrede in the Free State.
She returned to Soweto and enrolled at the Soweto Teachers’ Training College, where she obtained her diploma. Probably due to a lack of teaching posts or as a way of ploughing back into the province that gave her her matric, Lekoro returned to the Free State, where she got a teaching post at Memel Public Primary School.
Though she grew up playing netball at the Elkah Stadium in Rockville, her approach to education that you cannot have a healthy mind in an unhealthy body saw her reviving sport at her new school.
Her love for sport saw her becoming a member of the school’s sports committee, and she occupied a senior position at the SA School Soccer Association in Gauteng.
Cool, calm and collected, Lekoro’s positive outlook on life was contagious. As a teacher at primary level, her colleagues say she treated and cared for her pupils like her own children. She would go the extra mile to help them understand whatever subject they were being taught.
Lekoro will be buried tomorrow after a service at the local Baptist Church. The service starts at 7am and the cortege will proceed to the New Roodepoort Cemetery at 9am. She is survived by her 12-year-old son Tshepo.
Also being buried tomorrow is Orlando Pirates fan Moshimane, of 540 Ndlovu Street in Dube. Her family said she so much loved Amabhakabhaka that she became irritable when her favourite team lost.
“You could never argue with her about Pirates. She knew the players and would never miss a Pirates game when it was beamed on television,” said a relative, Tsholofelo.
Moshimane, who was a part-time florist, was the second-born child of the late Jacob Ramokgopa and still surviving mom Agnes Mampho. She attended the famous Orlando West High School, commonly known as Matseke. Her funeral service will be held at the Lutheran Church in Jabavu, starting at 7am. The cortege will proceed to Westpark Cemetery at 9am.