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Man of God and actor Pitikoe had integrity

Winkie Dibakwane

Winkie Dibakwane

Billy Pitikoe will not forget the call he received from the Johannesburg metro police department last Wednesday asking him to rush to an accident scene involving his father, the Reverend Molefi Seth Pitikoe.

"I suspected that something had gone wrong when my sister Moroesi and I went to the scene along Main Reef Road, where we found my father's body already wrapped in a silver plastic bag and the wreckage of his silver Jetta next to the truck that had hit him on the driver's side," said Billy.

Reverend Pitikoe was until last year moderator of the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa.

He also featured as an actor in the SABC TV series Sephiri sa Bontlenyane and also presented a religious programme called Mahlasedi a Tumelo onSABC3.

"He was more of a friend than a father to me. He did everything in his power to instil good moral values and discipline in all of us. Besides religion, he was a very loving father," Billy said.

He said his father would be remembered as a strong-willed, humorous man of good character, who had style and integrity.

Reverend Pitikoe was born in Hendrina on March 19 1939. He started school in Vryheid, then proceeded to Bethal where he completed his junior certificate.

He qualified as a teacher at Stofberg Gedenk School in 1958 and went on to graduate as a church minister at Stofberg Theological College in Pietersburg in 1962.

He did his pastoral work in Maseru from 1963 to 1964, Evander (1964-1968) and Zola (1968).

He was stationed at Tladi, Soweto, until his tragic death.

He completed his matric certificate and most of his degrees through correspondence.

These included a post-graduate degree in ministry (Free University of Amsterdam, Netherlands), a PhD in ministry (Pacific Western University, Colorado in the US in 1971) and a PhD in naturopathy (Naturopathic College of South Africa).

"On October 11, the church celebrated the 40th anniversary of Reverend Pitikoe as a minister in the Tladi parish," Billy Pitikoe said.

Reverend Pitikoe married Sarie Kruger in 1964. They were blessed with five children.

He is survived by his wife Sarie, a son, three daughters, two sisters and 10 grandchildren.

He will be buried tomorrow at Fourways Memorial Park at 11.30am. The service starts at Tladi Uniting Reformed Church at 10am.

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