RICHMOND NEWS - The Northern Cape MEC for Health and National Parliamentary Health Portfolio committee member, Mxolisi Simon Sokatsha, was given a befitting burial in Richmond.
He died in a car accident on 25 March.
The national parliamentary health portfolio committee members, accompanied by the minister, Dr Joe Phaahla, bid farewell to Sokatsha.
Speaker after speaker described him as a humble, humanitarian and selfless community builder.
"We are broken-hearted by the untimely departure of our beloved brother. He was a very dedicated servant and leader of the people, dedicated to his work, to the community and the national parliament of South Africa. It was shocking when we received the message,” said the minister of Health, Dr Joe Phaahla. Phaahla said that Sokatsha still participated actively in discussions on the Friday evening.
Sokatsha was born on 7 January 1965 in Richmond. He was married to Noluvuyo Lungiswa on 7 December 1991 and they are blessed with four children.
Sokatsha started his work as an educator at Nqweba Secondary school in Graaff-Reinet and later went to Ikhaya Senior Primary and Richmond High school in Richmond in the Northern Cape.
In 1996 he became the first mayor of the Ubuntu Municipality in Richmond and in 1997 he worked at Bo-Karoo District Municipality as an accountant and a junior planner. In 2003 he worked as the municipal manager at the Ubuntu Municipality. It was in 2003 that he was sworn in as a member of parliament in the Northern Cape.
He was also the MEC for the Health Department, Department of Social Development and Public Works en became a member of the National Parliament in 2019.
He leaves behind his mother, his wife Noluvuyo, children, Andiswa, Milisa, Zikhona, Kwakhanya and three grandchildren.
The casket of Mxolisi Simon Sokatsha carried by members of SAPS.
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