Yadhana’s family deserves better

On April 25, The Citizen and South African media as a whole lost one of their shining stars when news editor Yadhana Jadoo died in Cairo, Egypt, in puzzling circumstances while on a three-week fellowship programme as a guest of the Egyptian government and the African Journalist Union. Jadoo was just 34 and had recently been promoted from senior reporter to news editor.

Yesterday was seven months since her passing, yet her family only received her postmortem autopsy report 10 days ago.

It has been a frustrating seven months for the family, who are still trying to piece together what happened. The report said “the prime cause of death is attributed to methyl alcohol ingestion poisoning which led to multiple vital organs’ collapse”.

However, the report does not state the concentration of the methyl alcohol ingested or which ingested substance contained the poison.

The report ruled out all criminal suspicions. There are inaccuracies in the report, which says her Ugandan roommate Gertrude Ankah Nyavi, who was with Jadoo until her death, was in Alexandria City on April 25.

The report is not thorough at all. The South African department of international relations and cooperation and the Egyptian powers that be need to shed more light on what happened seven months ago.

Up to now, their involvement has been patchy, at best. Yadhana Jadoo, and her family, deserve better.

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