29/01/2025
REST IN PEACE, BELLA WITBOOI
Marco Botha | CEO of the Open Play Foundation
Bella Nozibele Witbooi was a rebel with a tremendous cause. When her daughter informed me of her mother’s passing in the early hours of this morning, I didn’t only lose a friend and kameraad but also the one person whom I looked towards for inspiration when the good fight felt more like an uphill battle than the mission we had committed ourselves to.
It was in those trenches that Bella and I met. She was deputy principal and later acting principal of Kayamandi Primary School where Open Play launched its first project, the GreenSource Sports for Water facility. She claimed it as her baby. Man, Bella could get things done, and while her work ethic and drive were admirable, it was the conviction that underpinned her actions that defined her and her lasting legacy: a child’s circumstances shouldn’t dictate his or her future.
She lived what Anton Rupert once said: “The only way we can make ourselves indispensable is through service and performance.” And we missed her when she had to go on medical leave at the beginning of 2024!
Becoming indispensable was never a self-serving endeavour. Bella understood that performance has to be a byproduct of service to others if it is to be meaningful and lasting; in her case, service to the children of Kayamandi and eventually, Kayamandi Primary School. As her daughters reminded us this morning, she would often tell despondent teachers, “It’s because of the black child in your classroom [that] you’re able to put food on your table.” Selfless service, performance and compassion.
She was one of the Ikaya Primary teachers who effectively forced the WCED into creating a new primary school in Kayamandi due to sardine-stacked classrooms at Ikaya. She and her fellow rebels forcefully occupied a vacant prefab building in Kayamandi and took the circuit manager hostage until their grievances were heard. The children who followed them and held their course became the first students of the new Kayamandi Primary School. It was here that Bella continued the good fight.
She was strict but she didn’t dish out discipline with words, punishment or anger. Those were reserved for ill-behaving parents and teachers. For her students, she would move beyond their behaviour and enter the world of the child that stood in front of her. It was very likely that the child not only came to school physically hungry but also emotionally, mentally and spiritually. Bella was a hugger, sharing compassion, love, care and a message of hope. She once said to me, “How can I shout at a child if the shouting at home is what landed him in my office? I give hugs, Marco. I hug them. My children need hugs.”
I needed a hug from Bella this morning. How could we have known that the last hug we gave each other at her home in December would also be the last time we see each other? It wasn’t supposed to be a goodbye. It was the beginning of new things. We spoke about how 2025 would be her year of emotional and physical recovery, and how we would channel this renewed energy into our next big mission that aligned with her purpose in this world.
However, it would be a disservice to the memory of Bella to dwell on what should and could have been. Rather, I choose to embrace what she leaves behind: an example of what we can achieve by living our lives according to the values of kindness, compassion, love, commitment, and a strong dose of stubbornness.
You will continue to live in and through us, Ma’am. It was your mission to serve the children who were entrusted to your care, including the strong young women you raised at home. We will remember you and remain in the trenches.
Your friend,
Marco
Image: Rob Benadie, CEO of Stellenbosch FC, thanks Bella Witbooi at the launch of the GreenSource Sports for Water facility at Kayamandi Primary, 29 November 2023. This facility was indeed her baby.
