Ernesto goes home to rest at last

Published Jun 2, 2008

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Vuva Ernesto Nhamuave arrived home on Sunday night.

From the industrial hub of Johannesburg through the rolling hills of Mpumulanga, he travelled along with hundreds of other Mozambicans as they crossed the border at Komatiepoort.

One thousand kilometres later he was at home in Vuca, outside Homoine, north of Maputo.

"Goodbye, I'm going to South Africa," Ernesto had told his wife, Hortencia, when he had left home three months ago.

Before he left, Ernesto had been sitting under the mango tree next to his home, drinking a cup of tea, when he called his eldest. "I will bring you a school bag when I get back," Ernesto told Alfabeto, 12.

This time, when his father left, it would be more difficult. The two had spent the summer building Hortencia a new kitchen and another room for the growing family.

Ernesto loved using his hands to build things. Almost 10 years ago, when Ernesto paid lobola for Hortencia, he built their home of palm leaves and thatch single-handedly.

Now, however, his fields lay fallow and the father of three had to ensure there would be the possibility of a crop for the family.

Ernesto had been working in South Africa after a stint in Maputo as a security guard. The money was "small".

When he returned home, he told the family Johannesburg was a nice enough place but Mozambicans were sometimes beaten and robbed after pay day. But three months had passed and Ernesto could hardly get himself to go back to Johannesburg.

"He delayed here too long because he loved too much. But a man needs a job, a real job that gives him some money," said elder and uncle Julio Nhamuave.

Ernesto knew the family would not survive without his income. Unpredictable weather and the ravages of the civil war are borne out in the thin, gaunt figures all around Homoine. Uncles, aunts and his own family depended on the money he sent home.

In South Africa, Ernesto would get a job in construction. He would go with his best friend and brother-in-law, Francisco Kanze.

The two would share a simple one-roomed shack in Ramaphosa for R150 a month. Every Saturday Ernesto would call Hortencia to catch up on news back home and tell her how things were going in South Africa.

On Saturday May 17, as was now customary, Ernesto called Hortencia. Things were not good in South Africa. He was scared. Hortencia was scared.

"He told me he would run away," said Hortencia.

Last week, all of the Nhamuave women gathered at Hortencia's home. She knew then. She cried.

When Jose, Ernesto's brother, who had been to the mortuary in Germiston, returned home on Friday and told Hortencia what had happened, her heart was torn.

With him, Jose had brought The Star newspaper, with Ernesto's flaming body on the front page.

"It is the first time to see something like that. We haven't even heard that a person could be killed like that. It looks like a nightmare," said Julio.

On Sunday, the elders sat under the mango tree where Ernesto had sat talking to his son. Outside the semicircle were the likes of Jose and the younger men.

Young women busily went about the task of peeling cassava, stamping peanuts and stirring the pots with feijao bean leaves. The older women sat under a tarpaulin shade on straw mats.

At the centre lay what looked like a pile of material. It was Hortencia.

Across the compound, not a word, not a whisper, not a sound.

"I know my father is dead. Nobody told me, but I heard the elders talking," said Alfabeto.

Last night, the Nhamuave clan would stay up late and wait for their son to return home. Across the border, down the pot-holed EN1, down the undulating dirt road that leads to Homoine, he was finally carried to his house in Vuca where cars cannot reach.

This morning, as family and neighbours file past Ernesto, Alfabeto will not be able to see his father.

Neither will Hortencia, or 7-year-old Juneriso, or 4-year-old Viriginia.

This morning, Ernesto will be laid to rest next to his father, also Alfabeto, under the tambeira tree where all the Nhamuaves end up.

"I had a good life with him. He was a good husband. A good father," said Hortencia.

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