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Caring community builder

Elisha Molefe

When I received a call from Simon Kombe, programme manager for the Independent Development Trust in North West, who told me that Aggy was no more, I was lost.

Then it hit me. He was telling me that Agnes Mokwele, 40, former Sowetan, Old Mutual and SABC Community Builder of the Year provincial winner in 2005, had just died.

Aggy, as she was popularly known in the small settlement of Tlhatlhaganyane, near Rustenburg, has been described by her close friend and confidant, Isabela Mogaki, as a dedicated woman.

"When the Basadi Ikageng poultry and vegetables project collapsed, she went knocking at government doors looking for donations," said Mogaki.

Though she had only a matric education, Aggy was a tough negotiator, according to the residents of Tlhatlhaganyane.

They remembered this week the last time she came from Mafikeng with live chickens and vegetables, which she distributed to people who could not afford a meal.

Last year she was secretary of the North West Community Builders' Forum and runner-up in the North West Woman Farmer of the Year competition.

Mokwele died on Sunday at her home after a short illness.

She is survived by her mother, three brothers and a daughter.

She will be buried at Tlhatlhaganyane tomorrow.

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