Alex gogo pays tribute to the late Pick n Pay boss
Retired employee Rosina Duduzile Moropa described [Raymond] Ackerman as like a father from another mother and not the boss he was.
A 77-year-old gogo from Alexandra has given a heartfelt tribute to the late Pick n Pay giant Raymond Ackerman for what she described as ‘unwavering love for black people at a time when it was considered a treasonous sin by the apartheid regime’.
Rosina Duduzile Moropa from Phase 2 in Alexandra, said she was introduced to Ackerman by her late husband, Simon, who worked for Pick n Pay at its first shop in the then Transvaal in 1970, three years after the opening of the first in Cape Town.
“I was then employed as a cashier at his second Transvaal store in Benmore, Sandton, in about 1982/3. There were no CVs at that time and we used to take our dompases [now IDs] to the Post Office to register which were then stamped as an employee of Pick n Pay and the store manager signed it every month.
“The Post Office stamp and name of the shop on the dompas which was signed monthly, allowed one to travel freely into what was then considered white areas as it specified your purpose there,” Moropa said.
In 1985, Moropa went to work at Pick n Pay’s third store in Gallo Manor. She was later promoted to frontline supervisor and was in charge of overseeing the cashiers after which she was promoted to frontline manageress. Each time Ackerman promoted black people to managerial positions, Moropa said he would constantly be hounded by the apartheid regime that disliked what he was doing.
In 1998, Moropa was among a group of employees chosen for a trip to the United States of America’s Disneyland Resort where they were trained in frontline skills. “Three days after our arrival, Ackerman showed up unexpectedly and greeted and hugged all of us and later had dinner with us after some site tours.
“That was the man he was and no one would think he was this ‘makhulu baas’ as most would often refer to him in those days. Ackerman was a person you could hardly differentiate whether he was the owner or just another employee each time he was on the shop floor and he so loved black people.”
Recalling more fond memories of Ackerman, she said on Easter weekends, he would close all his shops on a Thursday and open the next Tuesday to allow his staff to travel and enjoy the holiday with their families. “He had divided the shops between himself and his wife, and they would come down to the shopfloor and shake everyone’s hand and wish them well on Easter and during Christmas time too.
“To his wife, Wendy, and their four children, Gareth, Suzanne, Kathryn and Jonathan, your loss is our loss and we feel the same pain and grief. To us, Ackerman was like a father from another mother and not a boss. He had this unwavering love for black people at a time when it was considered a treasonous sin by the apartheid regime. May his soul rest in eternal peace.”
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