Good Samaritan, Elizabeth Shingange says her heart is broken after the recent passing of Wilson Nakale, who died at the age of. He regularly sat in the street in front of the Tzaneen Police Station. Shingange says that in 2018 she approached him wanting to understand how he ended up on the streets. “Before that, I regularly walked past him where he sat and would give him something, but he never acknowledged me.

“When I approached him, I learned that after the passing of his wife, he became depressed. People started calling him a witch and they would physically assault him until he decided to run away to live on the streets,” Shigange says. “He told me he had not bathed in over 10 months, and he wanted to go home to Bokgaga village.”

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Shingange approached the Greater Tzaneen Municipality for assistance and eventually social workers took him back home. At the time, the heartfelt story was covered in the Herald, and it touched the hearts of many people. “I visited him a few days after he arrived home to check up on him and he looked like a different person, he had shaved and looked handsome,” Shigange says.

Former Mayor Maripe Mangena also assisted with money to buy groceries for the old man from time to time. Prof Alfred Nevhutanda, the former chairperson of the National Lottery, also made contributions to buy him groceries and essentials. Nakale passed away at Dr CN Phathudi after he collapsed at home. Shingange and Maripe were some of the mourners who attended the funeral