Mapeke, 53, was described by speakers at his funeral as a "pathfinder" and a "pioneer" in working for the rights of people living with disabilities. Speakers at the funeral, including Minister of Transport and Communications Nonofo Molefhi and former Ministry of Education and Skills and Development (MoESD) spokesperson, Nomsa Zuze, agreed that Mapeke was a man of great character who did not let his visual impairment get in the way of his goals.
Perhaps this was best illustrated by an anecdote told by a representative of Tertiary and Allied Workers Union (TAWU), of which Mapeke was a member, of how he (Mapeke) came to be the first Motswana without a drivers' licence to buy a car. Edward Tswaipe, vice-president of TAWU, remembered back in the day when the country's laws did not allow anybody without a drivers' licence to buy a car. He said Mapeke, who could not get licensed because of his visual impairment, had decided to buy a car, and he fought with the government until he was able to buy the car. "That is when I really saw his character. Because I could see in the calm way that he was fighting, that he was not just doing it for himself, he was doing it for the generations of other people with disabilities who would not be able to get licences," he said.
