I will never return to Decoligny, says woman who lost family

Asongezwa “Soso” Ntlabathi has made a promise to herself: she will never return to Decoligny. A year after the floods of June 10 2025 claimed the lives of her mother and three young nephews, the 25-year-old has left the Eastern Cape to continue her studies in the Western Cape. She is determined to build a future away from the place where her life changed forever.

“I will never forget the early morning call I received from my panicking mother moments before she and my three nephews died in the floods,” she said. Ntlabathi was asleep when her mother, a nurse at Bedford Hospital, called to say floodwaters were rapidly engulfing their home in Decoligny, outside Mthatha. “The water had reached the house.

She told me the beds and wardrobes were being washed away,” Ntlabathi said. “I called 10111, but I was told there was nothing they could do. I was advised to phone the municipal disaster unit.” Those were the last words she would ever hear from her mother.