Lathitha Mhlathi, 18, a first-year economics student at Nelson Mandela University, whose tragic death in a Gqeberha lake has left his mother heartbroken
Image: SUPPLIED
When Portia Mhlathi phoned her 18-year-old son on Saturday and he did not answer, she immediately knew something was wrong.
Unaware his remains were drifting in a lake, his face already being eaten away by fish, the Mthatha mother, roughly 520km away, frantically phoned everyone she could think of to help find him.
But Mhlathi’s hope that Lathitha, a first-year economics student at Nelson Mandela University, was out of harm's way was completely annihilated on Tuesday morning when she was told a body had been found that looked just like him.
And so with nothing to her name, the jobless mother of three went door to door, asking for money to make the long trip to Gqeberha, where her son had been staying in a university hostel.
However, on arrival, her worst fears came true when a body bag was unzipped, and her sister, who had gone with her and looked on her behalf, positively identified her beloved son.
According to police spokesperson Captain Sandra Janse van Rensburg, his body was discovered at North End Lake in Sydenham.
Sydenham is a suburb in the northern part of Gqeberha, close to the harbour.
"Police received information about a human body floating in the lake at Milner Avenue at approximately 11.45am," Janse van Rensburg said.
"Upon arrival, members spoke to a witness, who indicated that he had been fishing when he noticed the body floating in the water.
"The SAPS Divers Unit assisted and successfully retrieved the body from the lake."
She said the cause of death had been determined to be drowning.
And though no mother ever wants to hear that her son has died, Mhlathi now has some closure but still faces the daunting task of bringing his body home to Mthatha.
With her insurance policy less than three months old and his death classed as unnatural, she must beg the funeral parlour on Thursday to help bring her son home and, hopefully, cover any and all costs.
"All I can say is it is very, very, very painful," a weeping Mhlathi told IOL on Wednesday night.
"Knowing I do not have the money to bury him also hurts.
"We are in a city we do not know, and all I want is to get my son's body back home."
The grieving mother said her nightmare ordeal, something she would never wish on another parent, started on Saturday.
Mhlathi said she had called her son late on Saturday and got no answer, which was unusual because they spoke every day.
“I kept calling him but he did not pick up,” she said.
"We called each other almost every day and whenever I phoned he always picked up."
By Sunday, she still had not heard anything about Lathitha, who would have turned 19 in June.
Out of options, she decided to call his roommate at the residence.
“I even called his roommate at the residence, and he said 'no, mama, he is not here’.
"I was worried... I wanted to know here where he was."
Because that did not give her any answers, she resorted to social media.
“I then put something on Facebook just to say my son was missing,” the bereaved mother said.
Mhlathi said she kept checking her post, but nothing concrete came in.
It was not until Tuesday that she was told a body had been found, one that looked almost identical to the picture she had posted on Facebook.
“They said he was wearing a red shirt and had dreadlocks.
"I knew it was my son, but I wanted to go to [Gqeberha] to see for myself. I knew I had to be there,” she said.
With no fixed income, she had to gather money from neighbours to make the long trip from Mthatha to Gqeberha.
She said her sister ended up going with her.
“It was my sister who saw his face," she said.
"I was not in a good space to see the body myself.
“My sister said it was him for sure, but his face looked like it had been bitten by the fish, or the… I don’t know, the things in the [lake].
"He wasn’t injured otherwise and there were no other injuries on his body.”
Mhlathi said she was a broken mom.
“I can’t even explain how I feel," she said, breaking into sobs.
"I sent him off to university, and now he’s gone. My child is dead.
"I don’t know what to say. It was very, very, very painful.”
She said she would remember Lathitha as a fun and outgoing young man.
“My son was very eager for school and happy to get into university," Mhlathi said.
"He was doing a diploma in economics.
“He was a bubbly child. He loved to sing, to laugh, to play. He was always full of life.”
She said as if the death of her son was not enough, she now also had to figure out how to get his body all the way back to Mthatha.
With no money, she said she did not know what to do.
“On [Thursday], I have to go to the funeral parlour so I can take him back home,” she said.
“I don’t have enough money to bury him. I have to go home and ask for… I don’t know what.
"I need money to bury my son because I don’t have any. I can’t do this on my own."
She said she had a funeral policy with AVBOB, but it was still new and she hadn’t yet completed the waiting period.
“His death was not natural, so they said maybe they could help, but they will have to see on [Thursday],” she said.
Janse van Rensburg said an inquest docket had been opened.
IOL