Ramaphosa Hails Maponya As A ‘Soldier Of Economic Emancipation’

President Cyril Ramaphosa paid glowing tribute to business icon Richard Maponya while delivering the eulogy at the funeral of the entrepreneur in Johannesburg Tuesday. 

“He loved his country and he loved his people. He was a soldier, not of the battlefield, but at the frontline of the struggle for the economic emancipation of his people – a struggle that endures to this day,” said Ramaphosa at the UJ’s Soweto Campus. 

He was a “true patriot.”

Maponya died last Monday after a short illness. He celebrated his 99th birthday on Christmas eve.

Former presidents Thabo Mbeki and Kgalema Motlanthe were also in attendance, along with host of other dignitaries which included Nelson Mandela’s widow Graca Machel and former deputy foreign affairs minister Aziz Pahad. 

Ramaphosa described Maponya as a man of “extraordinary resilience” who “persevered until he reached the pinnacle of success.”