Dr Maponya laid to rest at Westpark Cemetery

Iconic Soweto businessman, Dr Richard Maponya has been laid to rest at the West Park Cemetery in northern Johannesburg.

Speaking during the funeral service at UJ’s Soweto Campus, President Cyril Ramaphosa urged the youth to draw wisdom from the life of Dr Maponya – who impressed upon them the virtues of hard work, study and taking up opportunities.

While delivering the eulogy, President Cyril Ramaphosa said Maponya was against any sense of entitlement among young people.

He spoke often of the dangers of having a sense of self entitlement.

Also the former president of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), Mangosuthu Buthelezi, described the late Soweto businessman, Dr Richard Maponya, as someone who created opportunities for success.

Buthelezi told mourners that Dr Maponya’s legacy would live on.

Speaker after speaker at the funeral service spoke of how his footprints are permanently engraved in their own lives. The iconic township of Soweto is where many of his entrepreneurial seeds were planted.

While many still enjoy the fruits of his labour today, his family says his dream wasn’t fully realised.

The funeral of the grandfather of Black Business became a platform to call for unity in an organisation he helped formed more than 50 years ago.

Dr Maponya’s final resting place is West Park Cemetary – alongside his wife Marina who died in 1992.

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