SATURDAY of December 2, witnessed family members, church members, erstwhile and present colleagues and mourners-at-large descend on the University of Johannesburg’s Soweto Campus’ Imbizo Hall for the send-off of erstwhile Orlando Pirates FC and Bafana Bafana soccer player, Papie “Yster” Khomane.
The ex-defender, a second generation son of another former Pirates, defender, namely, Johannes “Skipper” Khomane, had sadly passed-on in a car accident together with his mother, Rita and uncle, Norman Nkosi on November 25, 2023 whilst travelling to a relative’s funeral in Utrecht, KwaZulu-Natal.
The sombre occasion inside the hall was punctuated by a spirited sermon delivered by a reverend from the late player’s church, the Uniting Reformed Church of South Africa (where Khomane was a robed member of its Christian Men Ministry) and exuberant singing from the church’s CMM and choir.
Those gathered to bid their farewells included another former Buccaneers defender from yesteryear, Ephraim “Shakes” Mashaba, former club PRO, Mickey Modisane and distinguished journalist, Lesley Mofokeng (who also happens to be a CMM member).
After the hall segment of the funeral service, an unending cortege honourably escorted by Johannesburg Metro Police Department motorbikes and cars and led at the front by hearses pulling display trailers carrying the caskets, navigated its way to Nasrec Memorial Park for the burial part of the ceremony.
Gravesite at Nasrec had ex-Pirates teammates, Lucky Lekgwathi, Abednigo Netshiodzwe, Willem Jackson and Brendon Silent carrying out pall-bearing duty amidst a heartbreaking moment which had Khomane’s surviving identical twin sons, Itumeleng and Tumelo, overcome with grief whilst they tearfully monitored his remains being lowered into the ground.
An inconsolable Khomane senior had a moment to shovel earth into his wife’s grave before three white doves were unfettered from a cage to take flight into the summer afternoon sky above Klipspruit, Soweto-raised Khomane, who was 48 at the time of his passing, had started his professional footballing career at the age of 19 in 1994 with Jomo Cosmos before joining Pirates in 1998 where he graduated to captain whilst garnering 151 appearances for the Orlando East outfit during a trophy-laden stint.
A Bafana Bafana squad member between the period 1998 and 2000, he participated in the Africa Cup of Nations tournament.
An alumni of WITS Technikon (where he studied IT), Khomane is survived by his wife, Thato, sons, Itumeleng, Tumelo, Motheo and Tshireletso – as well as his father, three brothers, Mokete, Benjamin and Thulani and two sisters, Lerato and Puleng.
All images Jacob MAWELA ( Johannes “Skipper” Khomane depicted escorted outside the UJ’s Soweto Hall during the funeral service of his wife Rita, son Papi and uncle Norman Nkosi).
(Mickey Modisane, erstwhile Bucs PRO spotted whilst attending the funeral in the company of another mourner).
