Law enforcement officers march to form a guard of honour.
âEver since we received the first tiding of a Covid-19 passing within our municipality, we had to accept the words of Nicholas Sparks who said: âIt is possible to go on. How impossible it may seem.ââ
With these words, Executive Mayor Gesie van Deventer started her remembrance of the two councillors and six officials who have died from Covid-19 since the first cases were identified early last year. They are: Councillors Derrick Hendrickse and Manie Pietersen, Kwanele Gugushe, Nnozigagana Kondile, Thandiwe Metshane, Christopher Nyangiwe, Bradley Frank Dyers and Ndawoyakhe Yalezo.
The Stellenbosch municipality will this morning honour the lives of its two councillors and seven officials who have succumbed to Covid-19 in a virtual memorial service.
The Stellenbosch city council said it had lost nine employees – two councillors and seven officials – since the start of the #coronaviruspandemic in March 2020.
Derrick Hendrickse
Stellenbosch is mourning the sudden loss of political stalwart EFF councillor Derrick Hendrickse.
He died of Covid-19 complications on Monday 4 January. He would have celebrated his 56th birthday on Tuesday 12 January.
“He was a formidable political fighter and was very aggressive politically when it came to injustices in our communities,” said former DA councillor Alderman Valerie Fernandez.
She knew Hendrickse before he entered politics. He was the chairperson of her ward committee. “He knew his national, provincial and local regulations and laws very well. I always leaned on his shoulder. He always knew what he was talking about. Because I knew him very well, I understood his aggression with regards to politics. He was a fighter for the community and he never beat around the bush. He treated everyone the same, whether you were a homeless man or the president. Equality was of the utmost importance to him. He believed in wha