Orlando residents bid farewell to Spatch
Rejected by family and loved by the community.
You all have seen that hopeless, homeless and limping man that used to sit by Dube Shoprite for more than 40 years.
Behind that well known homeless man, lies a sad story of rejection. Rejected by his own family and welcomed by the community at large. It is true when they say a family is not only blood but people who care about you.
Sebiloane Radebe known as Spatch has been living and surviving in the streets of Orlando West and has never eaten from the waste bins. He slept in different streets outside the pavement and no-one ever chased him away.
Spatch was given a befitting burial on March 8 by the community that he used to live in. Tributes and memories poured as the residents bid farewell to Spatch.
It was indeed a special burial for a special person. Jacky Nkoane said after all these years people came forward a day before he was buried and said they were related to him. He was surprised that his family was not from another province but were from Soweto yet no-one cared about his where-about.
“I always came across one of the people who came to the house but I did not know that they were related to him. If people deny a dead person they don’t belong in a category of human beings,” said Nkoane.
He allegedly said his uncle denied being related to the diseased. Although his family rejected him God gave him other people to take care of him. Nkoane said the late Radebe lived his life like a king because he was warmly welcomed by the community.
“People showed him love because they would make sure he eats, bath and was safe,” he said.
No-one from his family was there to pay tribute and bid farewell to Radebe but his neighbour Lawrance Phiri was there to tell the story.
He said he has known the diseased from the fifties; he grew up with his sister. Phiri said the problem started in the seventies when his grandfather was shot to death next to a funeral parlour.
” he was traumatised since then, it was difficult for him to accept his grandfathers passing. The family decided to move but he refused to move,” said Phiri.
Phiri said, unfortunately, his home was sold and was left homeless. He was all around Orlando West. He said what was interesting is he spent his last days with people who actually care about him.
Phiri labelled him as a social human being because he used to attend weddings and funerals in the area.
One of the people who were there during Radebe’s last days Lily Nyembe explained how he met the diseased. She said the was a voice that spoke to her and revealed a revelation to her that said what will she said if the diseased could die and be buried as an unknown person.
She acted upon the revelation that she saw and she met with him that’s where she got to trace where he is found. They helped him get an identity document but little did they know that those were his last days.
Nyembe said they saw that he was not fine on Friday, March 2 and they tried to take to the clinic. On her way to get medication for his wound that coursed him to leap, she received a call telling her that he is no more.
Fikile Ngcobo said she used to see this old man and they did nothing about him. She said they never tried to help him and said this funeral must be a lesson to all the people.
“I asked my self where I was because the lady who helped her was not from near. It is said that during a funeral something happens,” she said.
She extended her gratitude’s to everyone who helped the late Radebe and the attendees of the funeral. They all wished him to rest in peace.
Mostly they thanked Ikageng, Kupane funerals, councillors office and the community for a job well done in giving Spatch a dignified funeral.
