TK Mopeli remembered

By Emily Setona

QWAQWA – A Senior lecturer of Sesotho linguistics of the University of the Free State’s (UFS) Qwaqwa campus Dr Elias Malete, has called for learners to be taught about the life and character of Dr TK Mopeli.

Malete said this when delivering a memorial lecture in honour of the founder of Dikwanketla Party of South African and former leader of the Qwaqwa homeland this week.
“Dr. TK Mopeli was known to have been passionate about education and he contributed a lot to the education of a black person.
“According to the work of other scholars such as Mbigi, the purpose of education is to create consciousness by revealing the truth through facts, to enable an appreciation of beauty, and to give people the capacity to create what is good for themselves, the world and humanity. TK Mopeli was a leader that invested on people,” he said.

At the same occasion, Morena Makgabane Mopeli who attended the event along other members of the Bakoena Royal household, said that as a family they are truly humbled and appreciate the acknowledgement from the University of the Free State.
“Sometimes when the history of Dr TK is being told it sounds like a fable or legend of a person that lived a long time ago or even during the ancient Egyptians’ times.
“I would suggest that next time a lecture of this sort should be taken to the learners at Secondary schools so that they can learn about the life of TK Mopeli and the work that he has done and what we can learn from his leadership.”

During the question-and-answer session, a community development lecturer at UFS Gcina Mtengwane described Dr TK Mopeli as a leader with a vision.

“He managed to get those around him to support his vision through the evidence of the things he was able to achieve. It seems to me that the generation of today do not have the same passion as Dr. Mopeli, for education because many of them believe that they can achieve material gains without furthering their education.”
In response, Malete said lamented that the generation of today have developed a sense of dependency and asking for favours.

“For us to really know ourselves we must consider our indigenous knowledge systems in terms of leadership. Dr. TK Mopeli was quoted by Simela in his book, that we need self – reliance, we need to stop asking for favours. The most important thing is human resource and Dr. Mopeli invested in the education of people. We can never succeed without education; both TK and Mandela said that.”

Campus vice-principal, Teboho Manchu, thanked Dr Martin Mandew the campus principal for organising this event and stated that the university was not mistaken by dedicating this memorial lecture that is befitting to Dr Mopeli’s legacy.

“I think we shall remain eternally grateful for the role that Dr TK Mopeli played in our history. I’d like to thank Dr Malete for accepting this invitation and helping us understand deeply the sense of unforgettable leadership that Dr Mopeli offered our community of Qwaqwa and South African as a whole.”