Family have questions as they prepare to bury son
The Mbeju family will on Saturday 7 January bury Akhona Mbeju with heavy hearts, and many questions. The body of 34-year-old Akhona, who lived in B Street, Tantyi, was discovered in Grey Dam outside Makhanda on Monday, 2 January 2023 around 1pm.
Akhona’s uncle, Manezi Mbeju, was called to identify his nephew’s body. Police spokesperson Warrant Officer Majola Nkohli earlier said the family had reported Akhona missing on 31 December 2022.
“It was impossible to identify him by his face,” Manezi said. “I had to look for specific marks. We still have so many questions.”
In an extraordinary twist, Manezi said Akhona’s father had passed away in exactly the same spot at Grey Dam, 10 years ago when Akhona was 24.
“This has been terrible for the family,” Manezi said. “On Friday we celebrated the return of a boy in our family from initiation; just a few days later, we were called to see if the person in the dam was Akhona.”
Nkohli said an inquest docket had been opened for investigation.
Akhona matriculated at Mary Waters Secondary School and in 2013, enrolled for a hospitality course. Manezi said he had qualified as a chef after passing his exams and undergoing a six-month-internship in Cape Town and his practicals at an East London hotel.
“He graduated but unfortunately wasn’t able to find a job,” Manezi said. “He moved from one project to the next.”
Most recently he had been one of the 2000 Makhanda people employed by the Social Employment Fund to clean up the town.
“He was a smart young man,” Manezi said. It’s just unfortunate we didn’t have the money to send him to university.”
He said the funeral on Saturday would be at the Methodist Church in B Street, Fingo Village, at 9am. Akhona’s body would not be brought to the church but taken directly to the cemetery from the family’s home.
