Dingaan Shishavele buried

Mr Humphrey Dingaan Shishavele, an employee at the Kutama Sinthumule Correctional Centre and a resident of Shirley village, was laid to rest on Saturday.

He passed away on 27 November after a short illness. He was born on 16 December 1960 as the fifth son of Johanna Johnson Shishavele and Noria Shishavele.

Shishavele's sister, Rachel, said that her borther started his primary education at Shirley Primary school and did part of his secondary schooling at Matsambu at Nkurhi village. He then moved to Bankuna High School, where he matriculated.

He obtained a senior secondary teacher's certificate at the Tivumbeni College of Education, and he started teaching at Ndengeza High School in 1983. A year later, he moved to Shingwedzi High as a history teacher. He later taught at Marimani High School and then proceeded to Waterval High, where he taught history and Xitsonga until January 2002.

Shishavele joined the Kutama Sinthumule Correctional Centre (KSCC) on 20 February 2002, where he was appointed as unit manager where he worked until his death. During his tenure as unit manager, he worked in different working stations within the facility.

The management representative for the KSCC, Mr Tshililo Gadisi, described Shishavele's passing away as a hard blow to the company. He hailed him as an interpersonal person, a skill that is most needed for correctional officers who work with prisoners everyday. “We had seen a dedicated manager in him. He was very good in organising offenders' activities and staff activities such as sport,” Gadisi said. “He was an experienced officer, and experience is something that you cannot buy. We will always remember him for his good work.”

He was also elected chairperson of the Rivoni Society for the Blind and was the brains behind the starting of the successful special school at Rivoni under the Department of Education.

Shishavele is survived by his wife, Mavis, two sons, Langavi and Ndzalama, a daughter Ntwakalo, daughter-in-law Chanah and a grandson Nhluvuko, his mother Noria Shishavele, three brothers and two sisters.

Date:12 December 2014

By: Tshifhiwa Mukwevho

Tshifhiwa Given Mukwevho was born in 1984 in Madombidzha village, not far from Louis Trichardt in the Limpopo Province. After submitting articles for roughly a year for Limpopo Mirror's youth supplement, Makoya, he started writing for the main newspaper. He is a prolific writer who published his first book, titled A Traumatic Revenge in 2011. It focusses on life on the street and how to survive amidst poverty. His second book titled The Violent Gestures of Life was published in 2014.

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