FOR TWENTY years, they prayed their son would stop his nyaope habit and drop his bad friends, but that never happened.
Then, aged 30, Thabiso Pekeshe overdosed and died.
THEN HIS SO-CALLED FRIENDS WENT ON THE RAMPAGE AND TRASHED HIS FUNERAL!
A video taken at the funeral held on Wednesday in Mapetla, Soweto, shows the angry gang kicking over dishes and pots with food.
Thabiso’s father, Johannes Selaye (52) told Daily Sun his friends accused them of poisoning their own son.
“We raised him in spite of his drug problems,” he said.
“He terrorised us and the community, but we still loved him. I gave him his own backroom and we fed him.”
Johannes said Thabiso felt sick and his friends told him to go to the hospital where he died.
“They said he was vomiting rice which they suspect had poison that killed him,” said Johannes.
“The post mortem results showed he had overdosed on drugs. I told his friends, but they didn’t believe it.”
He said on Wednesday Thabiso’s friends went in a bus going to the cemetery but the driver drove to the police station when they became rowdy.
“At the police station they got off the bus and walked home to where women, including my wife, were preparing food for the people when they came back from the cemetery.”
Thabiso’s stepmum Nonia Radebe (52) said when they were done preparing food, she went home to take a bath while the mourners were still at the cemetery.
Mourners watched in horror as the gang threw food on the ground and trampled on the dishes and pots. They allegedly took one empty pot and left.
“When the friends arrived I was not there. I think I would have been attacked because I was accused of killing Thabiso.
“I got a call that I shouldn’t come back because the gang wanted me,” said Nonia.
She said Thabiso was still their child. “I would never poison my child, no matter how angry I was.”
The couple said they forgave those who accused them of poisoning Thabiso.
Thabiso’s aunt, Emily Maake (65), said: “We’re supposed to pay for the dishes and pots they damaged because we had borrowed them.
“We had nothing and the food they wasted was donated to us. Mourners left without eating.”
Cultural expert Mtimande Ngwenya said a funeral needed to be treated with respect.
“What those people did showed disrespect. They were bringing bad luck on themselves.”
