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The Meyiwas are flat broke

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Samuel Meyiwa, Senzo's father. Picture: Jabulani Langa
Samuel Meyiwa, Senzo's father. Picture: Jabulani Langa

Almost a year since their son and brother was killed, the family of Senzo Meyiwa appears to be without hope and begging for help to perform a crucial traditional ritual.

Meyiwa’s father, Samuel, told City Press this week that the family could not afford to perform the ceremony for the late Bafana Bafana captain.

He said that to perform Ukubuyisa, they needed to slaughter a cow and a goat. But they could not afford R10 000 for a cow and R650 for a goat.

“If I don’t do this ritual, my son is not going to rest in peace,” said an emotional Meyiwa. “Life is getting tougher every day. Sometimes we even go to bed with empty stomachs. Our lives have changed for the worse since Senzo has died. My son was a breadwinner. Why did they kill him?” he asked.

On Friday, Meyiwa Snr was on his way from his home in Umlazi to inner-city Durban to call the offices of Delphisure Group Insurance Brokers to find out whether there had been any progress in the resolution and payout of his son’s R5 million life assurance policy. Meyiwa spoke to City Press on a payphone because he could not afford airtime.

The assurance payout has been delayed because some of the beneficiaries of the policy are suspects in the case.

Even if Samuel Meyiwa scrapes together enough money to perform the traditional ceremony, it is unlikely all of his son’s family members will attend, a situation that will have an effect, it is believed, on the ceremony’s effectiveness.

Ukubuyisa is a ceremonial reincorporation of a departed relative into the family of the living and the dead.

Asked if Senzo’s girlfriend, singer Kelly Khumalo, was welcome to bring his year-old granddaughter, Thingo, to the ceremony, Samuel Meyiwa fumed: “Don’t tell me about Kelly – you are opening wounds.”

Khumalo did not respond to requests for comment.

October 26 will be the first anniversary of Meyiwa’s shooting at Khumalo’s mother’s home in Vosloorus, Ekurhuleni.

Meyiwa Snr explained that the ceremony had to be performed a year after a person’s death for them to be united with their ancestors.

He had wanted to perform the ceremony in early November and invite the entire family, as well as neighbours in Umlazi.

Zakhona Ndlovu, a traditional healer in Durban, agreed that the traditional ceremony had to be performed by the Meyiwas.

“All the family, including the children, should be present to receive an animal-skin wristband for protection,” she explained. Ndlovu said that if they did not perform the ritual, Senzo Meyiwa would not rest in peace and there would be no peace in the Meyiwa household either.

“The immediate family should be there when the ritual takes place. If they don’t, there will be consequences,” she said.

Nobongile Kakayo, a traditional healer in Umlazi, added that if the family did not perform the rituals, they would be opening themselves up to even more bad luck.

“More people will die in the family,” she said.

Meyiwa said he was still in talks with other family members to confirm the date of the ceremony.

“The ceremony doesn’t have to be on the same day he passed on. All I know is that it has to happen,” he said.

In December last year, Meyiwa’s family held a private cleansing ceremony at their home to get rid of bad luck. Meyiwa’s widow, Mandisa Mkhize, to whom he was legally married at the time of his death, also attended the ceremony.

Asked this week whether she would attend the Ukubuyisa ceremony, Mkhize said: “I don’t speak to the media. You can call Senzo’s dad for comment.”

Samuel Meyiwa said: “Obviously Mandisa will attend with her daughter. She was his wife and our makoti [a young married woman].”

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