'When we send children to school, we don't want to fetch them in coffins'
Nkosingiphile David Nxumalo (18), the last of six children born to a domestic worker mother from KwaZulu-Natal, was killed while sitting in a bus that was transporting students in Johannesburg last Thursday.
The second-year Bachelor of Commerce student at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) was one of three people killed in what is said to be a taxi-related shooting incident.
Stray bullets struck Nxumalo and another student on the bus during a shootout when unknown assailants opened fire on two men sitting in a parked BMW.
READ MORE: UJ confirms student killed in Braamfontein shooting
Nxumalo’s family arrived in Johannesburg from Newcastle to meet with the University’s management and Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande before making the harrowing trip to the mortuary where they identified his body.
The university assisted Nxumalo’s family with travel and accommodation arrangements and urged students who witnessed the ordeal to access the psychosocial services that have been made available.
On Monday, UJ executive director for student affairs Dr Nolitha Vukuza said they had been working tirelessly to support affected families and students.
Vukuza said her department also helped the family collect his belongings at the Nukerk student residence on Nugget Street, where he had been lodging.
“Going to the residence itself and collecting the items and the belongings has not been a very easy task. The family will go to the mortuary to go and identify. Those who can go home will, and those who will wait for the body to be released will then wait, and we are going to be looking after them. From A-Z, we will be supporting them throughout,” she added.
Nzimande described Nxumalo’s death as sad.
“To lose an 18-year-old second-year Bachelor of Commerce student; this was a future CA [chartered accountant] whose mother who is looking after him and helping him to study is a domestic worker. This is a Nsfas [National Student Financial Aid Scheme] beneficiary…
“I can identify with this as a parent who also had children at university. When we send our children to university, we want to fetch them in the gowns…not in coffins.”
WATCH: Minister Blade Nzimande: “It’s a sad development to lose an 18-year-old Bachelor of Commerce Accounting second year student. This was a future CA whose mother was a domestic worker. This was #Nsfas beneficiary. His mother was a domestic worker” #BraamfonteinShooting pic.twitter.com/kY3Hd00UZz
— Jacaranda News (@JacaNews) March 4, 2024
Nxumalo’s father is said to have died years ago, leaving his mother to fend for the teenager and his siblings – which includes a set of twins.
Two of the student’s siblings, his maternal uncle, and his mother’s employer, were among those who met with the minister in Auckland Park on Monday.
The family has asked for privacy while the university said it would continue to engage the family on funeral arrangements and other needs.
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