The Hlanganani communities and Vhembe District will always remember Manana Florence Khosa for all of the good work she did at the Elim Hlanganani Society for the Care of the Aged at Waterval.
This iconic mother and grandmother to many people recently passed away and was buried.
Khosa was the daughter of Puffy Soundy and Catherine Marivate and was born on 7 July 1935 at Mambedi. She obtained a qualification in teaching from the Department of Occupational Therapy at the Teachers College at Middleburg, Transvaal.
"She started working as a teacher at Shirley in 1956, and was appointed at Elim School in 1973," said Mr Sparks Baloyi, chairperson of the board of management. "She left Elim School in 1974 and went to the then Rhodesia in 1975 to train as an instructor and occupational therapist at the Jairos Jiri Project for partially sighted persons."
Although she contributed towards the establishment of the Rivoni School for the Blind and made a success of the Vutshila Project at Elim, it is at Elim Hlanganani Society for the Care of the Aged that she will be remembered for her sterling contributions. "Elim Hlanganani Society for the Care of the Aged was founded in 1993, and Manana Khosa was a founding member," he said.
The other founder members were Selina Miyeni, Evelyn Tlakula, Mavila Hlungwani, and Khosa's late husband, Demetrius Khosa, who passed on in late February this year.
"Even though Manana Florence was 57 at the time, she joined the group in order to find a solution to the problem of what would happen to the elderly when they were removed from the 'Shangaan Ward' at Elim Hospital (that's where the elderly were housed and Khosa took care of them)," Baloyi said. "Both Florence and Demetrius worked very hard towards shaping Elim Hlanganani into what it is today."
"It is with great regret that we have lost Ms Khosa. We could not afford to lose a woman of her calibre," Baloyi said. "However, we have to understand that at her age, 83 years, and looking at what she has achieved, her life needs to be celebrated. On behalf of the board of Elim Hlanganani, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to the Soundy, Khosa and Mahange families. We really feel as a community that we have been singularly honoured by the gift of the life of Mrs Florence Khosa. May her soul find solace and rest in perfect peace."