SPECIAL OFFICIAL FUNERAL SERVICE FOR

Professor Keorapetse William “Bra Willie” Kgositsile

19 September 1938 – 3 January 2018

Tuesday, 16 January 2018

 Obituary of
Keorapetse Kgositsile
Professor Keorapetse William Kgositsile was born to Neo Moagi (Father)
and Galekgobe Mary Kgositsile (Mother) on 19 September 1938 in
Johannesburg.

He was raised by his mother and grandmother, the two women he credited
for nurturing and moulding him to be the person he became. “They are
the ones who planted the values that made me, as my own sensibility
started to assert itself, able to understand the importance of individuality
as distinct from, and essentially in opposition to individualism,” he wrote.

He became a social and cultural activist while working as a scribe for New
Age in the 1950s. Due to political unrest in South Africa, the leadership
of the African National Congress (ANC) ordered him to leave the country
in 1961.

He spent a decade in the United States of America, where he established

himself as a poet and political activist while furthering his studies. He
lived in exile in Botswana, Kenya, Tanzania and several other countries
for almost three decades.

He was one of the founding members of the ANC’s Department of

Education in 1977 and the Department of Arts and Culture in 1982. He
also taught literature at various institutions across the world such as the
University of California in Los Angeles, North Carolina State University,
State University of New York, University of Denver, University of Nairobi,
University of Botswana and University of Fort Hare. He returned to South
Africa in 1990, after the unbanning of political parties.
Despite his active involvement in the ANC, he never stopped writing and
employing art as a “Site of struggle”. He has written numerous books,
including poetry collections such as This Way I Salute You (2004), If I
Could Sing (2003), To the Bitter End (1995) and My Name is Africa (1971).
Gwendolyn Brooks, the late Poet Laureate of Illinois, said of Kgositsile’s
work:

“I would say that he is a ‘master’, if it were not for my belief that no

one ‘masters’ anything, that each finds or makes his candle, then
tries to see by the guttering light. Willie has made a good candle.
And Willie has good eyes”.

Professor Kgositsile popularised the phrase, “Armed struggle is an act of

love”. His compassionate side is best revealed in one of his latest poems,
“Letter from Havana”, dedicated to his wife Baby Dorcas Kgositsile. The
poem ends with this rhetorical question: “Should I love my heart more/
because every time I miss you/ that is where I find you?”

He won a number of awards for his poetry. He was recognised with the
National Order of Ikhamanga in Silver, for “Excellent achievements in the
field of literature and using these exceptional talents to expose the evils of
the system of apartheid to the world”. In 2006, he was inaugurated as South
Africa’s National Poet Laureate. He mentored and shared the stage with
multiple younger poets, many of whom have become household names. He
has, throughout time, invested in the development of young people.

He was awarded the degree of Doctor of Literature and Philosophy for

his outstanding contribution to the academic world both nationally and
internationally, and also for his involvement in mentoring and supporting
youth-development initiatives.

A warm-hearted raconteur and bon vivant, Bra Willie, as he was affectionately

known, passed away in Johannesburg on 3 January 2018 after a short
illness. He is survived by his wife, Baby Dorcas Kgositsile, three sisters and
several children and grandchildren.
 Programme
Part One: My Father before My Father Knew the Uses of Fire
Family Valedictory Programme at Home,
Diepkloof Residence

06:00 Family Valedictory Programme

08:30 Cortege Leaves for Marks Park

Part Two: This Way We Salute You

Funeral Service at Marks Park

Programme directors: Minister Jeff Radebe and MEC Paul Mashatile

09:00 National Anthem

09:05 This Way I Salute You: Ipeleng Kgositsile and Sipho “Hotstix” Mabuse

09:10 Whilst I Have Voice: Audio

09:13 Tsela e Re e Tsamaileng: Mooki Millicent Diphoro

09:20 Love is Indeed A Revolutionary Act My Brother, My Friend:

Mandla Langa

09:30 Look in these Young Eyes if You Dare: Barbara Masekela

09:40 And We are Moved - Poetic Tribute: Lebo Mashile

09:45 Moagi! We are Your People, My Friend: Sebiletso Mokone-Matabane

09:55 To the Bitter End My Comrade and Friend: Pallo Jordan

10:05 Musical Dedication: Jonas Gwangwa

10:10 Honouring an Academic: Professor Mandla Makhanya and

Elinor Sisulu
10:18 This Way they Salute You – Condolences Messages:
Trevor Fowler and June Josephs-Langa

10:30 Not So Random Notes…To our Father: Children of Professor Kgositsile

10:45 Musical Dedication: Fitzroy Ngcukana Band with Steve Dyer

10:50 Love Leaps and Soars Beyond. Tribute by Mrs Baby Kgositsile:
“My Love, Husband, Companion & Confidante”: Read by Gail Mabalane

10:55 Response from Keorapetse Kgositsile: “Letter From Havana”,

read by Sam Shakong

11:00 Musical Dedication: Jonas Gwangwa and Dorothy Masuka

11:05 A Thousand Thundering Voices – In appreciation:

David Makhura, Premier of Gauteng

11:20 He Whose Humanity You can Never Erase. Obituary:

Moferefere Lekorotsoana

11:30 Eulogy by Mr. Cyril Ramaphosa, Deputy President of the Republic of

South Africa

11:55 Announcements: Programme Director

12:00 Pall-bearers and bearers take positions: Chaplain General

12:05. Re Medi ya Mowana: Karabo Morule, nephew

12:10 Cortege Departs for the Cemetery

Part Three: Don’t you know this is a love supreme!
West Park Cemetery

12:45 Family and Deputy President Ramaphosa take their seats

12:50 Removal of the National Flag from the Casket by the Military
and Handing it Over to the Family

Last Post and Reveille Sounded

SANDF Bearers and Ceremonial Guard of Honour Withdraw

Committal: Reverend Molo

Unveiling of the Tombstone by the Family

Reading of the Inscription and Poem: Children of Professor

Kgositsile

13:35 Vote of Thanks from the Family of Professor Kgositsile:

Anthony Lolwane
 No Boundaries
I possess neither wings
nor the magician’s mischief
but, believe me, I can fly;
and I can also be a landscape
of mirrors that name whatever moves
or has pretensions to be alive.

On the wingspan of my desire,

easy as the approach of any day,
you can clearly remember
I can fly to any place
or moment fertile with memory
or create fresh ones without a single boundary
though our lives remain so pathetically prosaic.

With informed hope

and resolve we must know
how to move forward to a landscape
where our dreams cannot be turned into nightmare,
where our dreams are always in sight,
where we must again
redden the blackest folds
of our memory and intent.

by Keorapetse Kgositsile
National Anthem
Nkosi sikelel’ iAfrika
Maluphakanyisw’ uphondo lwayo,
Yizwa imithandazo yethu,
Nkosi sikelela, thina lusapho lwayo.

Morena boloka setjhaba sa heso,

O fedise dintwa le matshwenyeho,
O se boloke,
O se boloke setjhaba sa heso,
Setjhaba sa South Afrika - South Afrika.

Uit die blou van onse hemel,

Uit die diepte van ons see,
Oor ons ewige gebergtes,
Waar die kranse antwoord gee,
Sounds the call to come together,
And united we shall stand,
Let us live and strive for freedom,
In South Africa our land.