In a tribute to the late veteran communicator Ronnie Mamoepa, Deputy President Paul Mashatile described him as one of the best in government communications.
The Ronnie Mamoepa Foundation was launched on Wednesday at Freedom Park in Pretoria by the Mamoepa family. Among other struggle stalwarts, Mamoepa’s name is engraved on a wall at Freedom Park.
Mashatile said Mamoepa contributed immensely to government communications and he was one of the best in the game.
“He was part of a group of people who helped build the ANC in Gauteng, and because of his skills and capacity to communicate effectively, he was able to transcend into government to become one of the best communicators,” said Mashatile.
He added: “As a matter of fact, it is because of people like Ronnie and Thabo Masebe that today we have the best communication machinery for the government through the Government Communications and Information System.”
The family spokesperson, Nthabi Mamoepa said they want to assist children to become the best communicator by emulating Ronnie Mamoepa’s contribution to government communications.
“Let start off by saying we have got really big shoes to fill. He played a really important role in-terms of communicating. He was a big communicator. He was a giant, he was a hero like I can name all the adjectives. But what we want to do with the foundation is that we want to emulate what he did, focus on kids and grow with them and help them become the best communicators in our countries. There is a study called reading with understanding and we know that is the biggest problem starting from grade 4. We want to fix that and be involved in schools,” said Nthabi.
Mamoepa was serving as the spokesperson of the then Deputy President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa when he passed away in 2017.
He started his stint as government communicator as spokesperson for the first Gauteng Premier between 1994 and 1996. He also served in different departments.
