Pretoria - Members of the Forever Young Golf Club have come to the aid of Soshanguve Extension 6 siblings who were unable to bury their mother due to financial difficulties.
Grace Mochabane, 42, died earlier this month, leaving behind two daughters, who each have two children of their own.
Johannes Phele, community leader and member of the club, said news of the predicament only recently reached their offices.
The social club for owners of Volkswagen Golfs was formed in 2010 and its 30 members have lent a helping hand to the poor and underprivileged.
“I was touched by the situation when her daughter Selina came to the community offices and requested urgent help. My colleagues dragged their feet, but I then contacted members of the club and explained everything to them,” said Phele.
While waiting for the feedback, Phele offered money from his pocket for Mochabane's body to be moved to a local mortuary.
Phele said club members donated money from which he managed to pay for the mortuary, with the remainder going towards the burial, including a coffin and hearse.
The burial is set for Saturday at Itsoseng Cemetery in Hebron.
Club chairperson Donald Maluleke expressed his deepest condolences to the Mochabane family. He said they were focusing on the burial and would later contact the Department of Social Development to assist the impoverished family.
Selina, meanwhile, said her mother was “a friend, sister and then a mother”.
The 23-year-old said her mother spent almost the whole of March at George Mukhari Academic Hospital. “She went in and out of hospital, fighting an illness,” she said.
The sisters survive on social grants and are unemployed. Their stepfather works as a delivery man.
“I still remember the day when I received a call from the hospital informing me about her death. Instead of being devastated, the first thing that came to my mind was how were we going to bury her.”
She said she went to the hospital the following day and was requested to pay a R120 bed fee before they could release her mother’s remains.
“We did not have that money and neither did our relatives. The corpse lay a full two weeks at the hospital’s mortuary,” she added.
Pretoria News