Well-known 'street personality' dies

GRAAFF-REINET NEWS — Patrick Mazantsana has been a familiar figure to many over the years on the streets of Graaff-Reinet, where he could often be found sitting on a corner with a display of his intricate wire work cards.

The cards have been popular with locals and tourists alike, and many have found their way to far-flung corners of the world.

Sadly Patrick passed away at Midland Hospital on Tuesday. He had been diagnosed a terminal illness a few years ago, and his health had deteriorated. A few weeks ago it was confirmed that there was nothing more that the clinics could do for him, and he was admitted to Midland Hospital last week as he could no longer walk and was battling to breathe.

Patrick grew up in Graaff-Reinet and completed Grade 7 at Isibane Primary School before moving to Cape Town to sell fruit and vegetables. About 17 years ago, a woman named Grace taught him how to work with wire, and he found that could make a living this way, with his trademark cards and flowers being particularly popular.

In 2016 he returned home permanently to his family in Graaff-Reinet, as he did not have a roof over his head in Cape Town and needed a home during the treatment for his illness.

Previously he would travel between Graaff-Reinet and Cape Town during the busy tourist seasons to sell his cards in Newlands, which was where Nicola Beldon, of Country Mouse, first met him.

When Beldon was working at McNaughton’s Bookshop, she arranged for his cards to be sold there, and on opening Country Mouse, he was one of the first suppliers she approached.

In a Facebook post last week, she poignantly wrote that she has the last bunch of flowers that he made for sale in the shop. His cards are also available at both McNaughton’s and Country Mouse, and money from their sale will go to his family.

Patrick was not married and lived with his mother and family in Umasizakhe. It would have been his 39th birthday on August 21.