ON Wednesday, 21 September, she sent her sister a voice note saying she wanted her to apply for a funeral policy at home.
She told her sister that she was worried about the pace at which her fellow colleagues were dying abroad.
“Bringing me home when I am dead will cost you thousands of rands,” she said in a voice note.
The following day, 22 September, Siphosethu Mxokozo (30), who was an English teacher in China, died.
Her sister Zandile Mxokozo (37) from Greenfield in Ekurhuleni said they received a call from her colleague in China that her sister died of a panic attack.
To repatriate her body, the family needs to raise R327 000. Zandile, who works as a domestic worker, said she doesn’t know how they’re going to raise the money.
She said the China Embassy in Tshwane contacted them last Friday, 23 September, informing them of options available to them, one being to cremate her body. But she said cremation was against their culture. and what surety will they be having that it’s her remains.
“And what if they burn a dog and send us the ashes. We are not there and we not sure it would be. We want to see that it’s her,” said aunt Thembisa Keyise.
Zandile said the day before her sister died, she sent her a voicenote asking her to get her a reputable funeral policy. “She was her bubbly self and nNothing indicated that she was sick, so it left us shocked and baffled because my sister was the breadwinner here at home.”
“It was her mission to take us out of poverty. She started building a house for my parents and was helping us financially,” she said.
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She said her sister, who graduated with a teaching diploma at University of Joburg in 2019, was struggling to get a job locally.
“She’s applied through agency for a teaching job in China. She has been teaching in China and sending money home since October 2019.”
She said her family was still looking for answers.
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“We can’t say it’s Covid because she used to tell me she tested every week and never tested positive.”
Zandile said Siphosethu was concerned about fellow South Africans dying in China.
“She said she knew the woman who recently died from Mosselbaai and was a fellow teacher.
“It was the reason she wanted to get a policy after seeing the trauma her family went through seeking donations to bring her body home.”
The family needs help to raise the funds to bring her body back home, and anyone willing to help should call Daily Sun on 011 713 9000 or contribute on the account below:
Capitec: DS Fund Account
Account No: 163 8000 067
Branch: 470010
