• Ndileka Jongile’s body spent six weeks in a mortuary because her struggling family could not afford to give her a funeral.

• Ndithini Tyhido paid more than R17,000 towards the burial after community members approached him and explained the family’s desperate situation.

For six painful weeks, a Khayelitsha mother waited to bury her murdered daughter.

Ndileka Jongile was murdered in Lower Crossroads. Her family could not afford a funeral, so her body stayed in the mortuary while they tried to find the money.

Community members tried to collect donations, but too many people around them were struggling too. Eventually, someone suggested they approach Ndithini Tyhido, leader of the ANC’s Dullah Omar Region in the Western Cape.

“Community members approached me, asking me to step in and assist the family in burying their loved one. They explained that the family cannot afford to bury her and that her body has been lying in the mortuary for six weeks,” Tyhido said.

He visited the family to find out exactly what they needed.

“I met the family, and they explained that they have nothing. I promised that I would cover all the burial costs,” he said.

Tyhido returned on his birthday, 25 August, to tell the family the funeral was covered. He ended up paying more than R17,000.

“Before going out to celebrate my birthday, I start by giving back to the community because we are where we are because of them. The Badu family is not the only one that needed assistance in burying their loved one,” Tyhido said.

He said many families, in Khayelitsha and elsewhere, lose their jobs and can no longer keep up funeral cover payments, leaving bodies in mortuaries for weeks or months.

Jongile’s mother, Nomonde Badu, had not expected help on this scale.

“I didn’t know that he would cover everything. I thought maybe he would donate R5,000. I am grateful to him because now we will bury my daughter with dignity,” Badu said.

The six week wait added to her pain.

“How she was murdered and not being able to bury her has been haunting me for too long,” Badu said.

Jongile was 44. She leaves behind three children, aged 13, 11 and 6.

Ward 89 councillor Khayalethu Gxagsheka said families without money have two options: ask the municipality to bury the body, though only the person who signs the form may know where the grave is, or go door to door asking local businesses for donations.

Gcotyelwa Martins, of Sizisa Ukhanyo Funerals in Mandela Park, said her company helps families who can raise at least half the cost, and looks for sponsors for the rest.

Jongile will finally be laid to rest this week.

Pictured above: Ndileka Jongile, who was murdered in Lower Crossroads, Khayelitsha.

Image source: Supplied by family