The Mmalekwa Cemetery, Kanye

But now, all of a sudden, Kgosi Malope has sent out a letter (22,10,15) appealing for funds to help upgrade and protect the historically important Mmalekwa cemetery in Kanye.

This is a really encouraging initiative – possibly the first of its kind – which really does need to be supported. As Kgosi Malope states in his letter, in the Mmalekwa cemetery are the graves of an extraordinary cross section of the community which is itself an intriguing contrast to the separate cemeteries that can be found up and down the country for this or that group of people, normally the black and the white. In Kanye, everyone is in there as one, the royals, the traders, the missionaries, the serving members of the old British South Africa police, European travellers, as well as locals of lesser distinction.