Pretoria - Overwhelmed parents were on Friday thankful for the commemoration of their children who served in the South African National Defence Force (SANDF). They revealed to the Pretoria News that moving on with their lives was the most difficult thing to do.
“Losing my daughter has been the most difficult thing to ever happen to me; to this day I had not entirely made peace with the fact that she was gone. The pain does not go away,” said Mariam Mngomezulu, mother of Sergeant Nomthandazo Mngomezulu.
She said, however, she was happy to see the Defence Force commemorate her daughter in a dignified manner. She said the commemoration proved her daughter’s hard work and dedication to the defence force department was not forgotten and meant something to her colleagues. Mngomezulu said this during a SANDF wreath-laying ceremony at Military Police School in Thaba Tshwane, Pretoria.
She said her daughter’s death was a shock as, at the time, she was in perfect health.
A South African National Defence Force member lays a wreath for soldiers who lost their lives for the country. Picture: Oupa Mokoena
“Nomthandazo died at the age of 36 in 2014. She fainted in the bathroom while preparing for work and was rushed to the clinic, but unfortunately she did not make it. Though it is still hard to deal with my daughter’s loss, I am glad the Defence Force still checks up on us and makes sure we are still holding on and keeping strong,” she said.
Mngomezulu said her daughter was a hard worker; she did not have children of her own, but always put her family and work before everything else. Nomthandazo’s colleagues shared her sentiments - they also said that their sergeant was very committed to her work.
They added that she was not strict, but had always wanted things to get done, and she was skilled at what she did. She was one of the bikers who rode during opening of Parliament and other presidential events, and was also a motorbike instructor at the military school of police.