Dolly Rathebe to be honoured with digital memorial tombstone thanks to a generous donation from an inspiring entrepreneur

Heritage month sees an important milestone legacy project come to fruition thanks to the spiralling support of a school girl's call to action. On 19 September 2015, family and friends will join the Duru/Rathebe family, and a number of their sponsors including Gauteng MEC for sports, arts, culture and recreation in honouring the musician’s legacy and unveiling her tombstone at a special memorial event at the Roodepoort Cemetery at 09:00.

Earlier this year Taynita Harilal, a grade 12 pupil from Parktown High School for Girls used her school project on the late Dolly Rathebe and social media to kick start a conversation about one of South Africa's great music legends. In the chain of events that followed, she not only raised awareness about the singer, songwriter and actress, she also ensured that Rathebe’s memory would be honoured with a memorial site. Inspired by the call to action from Taynita, Bataung Memorial Tombstones Managing Director and inspiring entrepreneur Lebogang Khitsane stepped in to offer support.

Bataung Memorials an innovative plaque, statues and monument manufacturing company based in Ekhuruleni have generously donated a tombstone to the value of R150 000 fitted with a special QR code. This innovative service allows visitors to the gravesite to access and interact with content related to the deceased’s life and times and to share the memory while creating an online legacy for loved ones.   ‘We are happy to have been part of the solution towards remembering this great icon said Lebogang Khitsane, MD of Bataung Memorial Tombstones.

On 19 September 2015, family and friends will join the Gauteng MEC for sports, arts, culture and recreation together with Rathebe’s family in honouring the musician’s legacy and unveiling her tombstone at a special memorial event at

Rathebe died in 2004 at the age of 75 and while she may have died a legend, synonymous with the history of Sophiatown, her family did not have the means to erect a tombstone.

The Gauteng Department for sports, arts, culture and recreation are supporting the family in the organisation of the event.

When she started the project, Harilal could not imagine the reach her history project would have and has been inspired by the generous offers of support and renewed interest in Rathebe’s life and music. In June she was awarded the Lead SA 702 Youth Hero of the Month and spoke about the project at this year’s Jozi Book Fair. She has been invited by Rathebe’s family to be a part of the ceremony on 19 September.

‘I am so excited and honoured to have been part of this project. Working on it has been an eye opening experience and very educational to me, making me realize the importance of legacy preservation in this lifetime’ said Harilal.

The family would also like to thank Johannes Henning-Schmitt of The Florist at Duncan Yard in Hatfield, Pretoria for the generous donation of flowers for the memorial site.

The ceremony will take place at the New Roodepoort Cemetery at 301 Elias Motsoaledi Road, Dobsonville, Soweto at 09:00.

Issued on behalf of Taynita Harilal and Bataung Memorial Tombstones by JT Communication Solutions