THE Mxenge family has lost two members to Covid-19.
Thembisa Mxenge (29) from Lower Crossroads, Cape Town said the first victim was her gogo, who died on 23 July.
“We lost my gogo last month, but only managed to bury her at the weekend. We still have to bury my sister, who died on 27 July.
“We didn’t have enough money to bury my grandmother, but a funeral parlour helped us. We don’t know how to bury our sister.”
Thembisa said members of her family relied on piece work but since the lockdown started, they had lost everything.
“The funeral plans we had lapsed and there are no piece jobs,” she said, adding they were afraid to ask the parlour for help again.
“It has done so much already, and we understand it is running a business.
“We are asking anyone who might assist us to come forward.”
All 10 surviving members of the family live in a tiny, one-roomed house. Thembisda said they didn’t know her gogo was sick until she started coughing, and then suddenly died.
“We didn’t know she had Covid-19 until the results came back after her death. My sister had a fever for two days and also died.
“We are afraid of also getting infected, but we have nowhere else to go,” she said.
MMC for community services Zahid Badroodien said the city would engage directly with the family to assist them.
