Makhosandile Mkhonjwa toiled on the mines to realise his one dream: to build his family a beautiful home in Madiba village in Mbizana in the Eastern Cape.
Mkhonjwa (29) cared for a family of 10 people, including his two children who are still at school. His wife, Nokwanela Phakathi, said he was going to build a house for the family, including his mother, as their traditional rondavels could no longer withstand heavy rains and extreme weather.
The barren rooms of the family’s home tells their own story of daily struggle. “Things were tough even when he was still alive but we could survive. We are left with nothing,” said Nokwanela. “We buried his father in March and now it is him. There is no man to take care of the family. They have taken the only person we could rely on.”
Mkhonjwa left his village, just kilometres away from village home of struggle icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, in 2007 to look for a job on the mines.
He was a regular churchgoer, and a man whom his family say was loving, kind and who never got involved in violence. – Thanduxolo Jika
