Help for bereaved family

The recent death of Rialivhuwa (4) and Ompfunaho (3) Tshifaro of Khumbe Zone 4, who perished in a mysterious fire at Khumbe outside Thohoyandou, touched numerous members of the community.

They were killed while the mother was in Pretoria and the grandmother had gone off to sell clay bricks at a nearby river.

After the incident, it was found that the family would not be able to give them a decent funeral and this paper and local councillor Ms Melta Rasendedza published their plight.

Among the people who were touched by the incident were Indian businesspeople under the umbrella of the Vhembe Muslim Jamaat, who donated a huge quantity of groceries for use during the funeral.

Another local businessman, Mr Steven Maluleke of Mbavhalelo Funeral Undertakers, offered the family a free burial, including family cars and tombstones for the two deceased.

Molana Salim Patel of the Vhembe Muslim Jamaat said they were moved when they heard of the way the children had died. "When approached by the councillor, our committee sat, and a decision was taken that we should help.” This is not the first time this group has assisted the community.

They monthly identify a needy community and hand over food parcels to them. Through their project, more than 1 500 families have benefited so far.

Businessman Steven Maluleke of Mbavhalelo is also not new in assisting the community. For years he has assisted many students from the whole of Lwamondo. He said his heart bled when he heard of the way the youngsters had died and there and then decided to help.

"We are in the funeral business but felt this was an exceptional case. We decided to help bury the two innocent souls for free," he said.

On behalf of the community and the family, Cllr Melta Rasendedza thanked all who helped and gave the two children a decent send-off.

Date:24 March 2018

By: Elmon Tshikhudo

Elmon Tshikhudo started off as a photographer. He developed an interest in writing and started submitting articles to local as well as national publications. He became part of the Limpopo Mirror family in 2005 and was a permanent part of the news team until 2019.

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