‘My youngest child’s grave has been waiting for 365 days’

A year after the June 10 floods killed her husband, son and niece, Nosipho Khosi-Dabane is still waiting for her youngest child to come home. At her in-laws’ homestead in Tabase outside Mthatha, an empty grave lies between those of her husband of 17 years, Calvin Dabane, and their son, Iminathi. The grave was dug for the couple’s youngest son, Lusanele, who was 13 when floodwaters tore through Decoligny village in Mthatha West and surrounding communities on June 10 last year.

The deluge killed at least 104 people across the Eastern Cape. “The grave has already been prepared for Lusanele. It sits between the graves of Calvin and Iminathi.

A space for my son, hoping one day his remains will be found and come home,” Khosi-Dabane, 42, said. “He has a space waiting for him. It has been waiting ever since.” One year after the disaster, she says she is still unable to move forward.

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“I want to move forward. I want to accept that my husband and all my children are gone forever and will never come back.

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