UNITED IN DEATH

MBABANE – A man, who left home 30 years ago, has been reunited with his family after his death.

Joseph Matsenjwa (52) left home when he was 22 years old with a woman he was in love with and he never returned to his relatives as he moved into a house with his new love.
According to his sister, Nonhlanhla Shabalala, when Matsenjwa left home, the family was staying at Msunduza location and he never came back to visit them.

Matsenjwa passed away on January 17, 2017 while at Maphalaleni where he was now staying with a male friend, who did not know anything about his family.
He had been kept at the Mbabane Government Hospital mortuary since his death as police were looking for his family.

Shabalala said they heard from a distant relative, who resides in Mbabane and works at the market, about the death of their brother since she (Shabalala) now stays in Matsapha.
“Matsenjwa was not our biological brother as his mother brought him to our homestead when we stayed in Big Bend and I was also very young and he was two years old. We did not know the woman who told us she was his mother as the only information she told my mother was that she was giving the young boy away and she never came back. She also told us that he was a Matsenjwa such that when we were eating goat meat, he was not given any. We grew up with him as if he was our own flesh and blood.

“I was shocked to hear that Joseph had passed away because I was still nursing hopes that he would come back to us. The woman who left with him should have looked for us and informed us of his passing because to our knowledge, he left with her and is still with her. When they left 30 years ago, he never told us anything about his lover and we do not know even know what her name was and the people who were staying with him when he died do not know anything about her as well,” Shabalala said.

As Matsenjwa was a born-again Christian when he died, his pastor offered to buy a coffin for him after his family had been found.
Shabalala stated that they would not hold a vigil for Matsenjwa.
“I asked the umphakatsi from Matsapha to have his funeral there but they stated that he was not from there.

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