Rashid's passing great loss to Soutpansberg business community

Date: 01 February 2024 By: Andries van Zyl

The Soutpansberg business community learned with great sadness of the death of well-known businessman Rashid Ahmed Cassim at the age of 73. Rashid, who had suffered a stroke in November last year and never fully recovered, passed away on 24 January.

The late Rashid was the well-known face behind Rooiwinkel in Eltivillas and had been a stalwart of the Louis Trichardt business community for more than five-and-a-half decades.

Rashid Ahmed Cassim was born on 16 September 1950 at Elim Hospital, the son of Tayob Cassim and Juleikha Essa from the then Pietersburg. Tayob arrived in South Africa in 1929 and was educated in both India and Ermelo, South Africa.

In 1945, Tayob Cassim left Ermelo to settle with his family in Johannesburg, where he opened and ran a business – Omar’s Silk Bazaar in Main Street, Fordsburg - for five years. In 1949, Tayob Cassim bought a business by the name of “Friends” in Louis Trichardt and moved here permanently. He passed away in 1964 and was a respected member of the Louis Trichardt Muslim community.

Tayob Cassim also founded Rooiwinkel, and after his death, the business was taken over by sons Farouk and Sikander Cassim. Rashid joined the family business in 1968, at the age of 18, after attending high school in Polokwane. His primary schooling was completed at Laerskool Louis Trichardt.

For many years, Rashid was the face behind Rooiwinkel, which is still running today under the management of his sons Areef, Mohsin, Mohamed and Osman.

Messages of condolence following Rashid’s passing streamed in from everywhere. “He will be dearly missed, not only by his family but by the entire Louis Trichardt community, whose lives he touched. He was a man of character and selflessness, and his life serves as a living example of resilience, courage, and grace,” said the family. They added that his journey from humble beginnings is not just a story of business acumen but a testament to the values of hard work and community spirit. “He was a visionary, and we can see this in the legacy he leaves behind,” concluded the family.

The late Rashid is survived by his wife Fatima; children Mohsin, Mumtaz, Safiya, and Osman, and his only surviving sibling, sister Amina Tayob. His funeral took place the same day of his passing at his home in Eltivillas and he was buried next to his brother, the late Sikander Cassim, in the local Muslim cemetery.

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Andries van Zyl

Andries joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in April 1993 as a darkroom assistant. Within a couple of months he moved over to the production side of the newspaper and eventually doubled as a reporter. In 1995 he left the newspaper group and travelled overseas for a couple of months. In 1996, Andries rejoined the Zoutpansberger as a reporter. In August 2002, he was appointed as News Editor of the Zoutpansberger, a position he holds until today.

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