Social workers ask help to get Bongani home
According to Sharon Makofane, a social worker, Bongani maintains he attended Mqigimbi Primary School and Founders High School.
SEKHUKHUNE – Social workers asked the public to help reunite a man with mental disability with his family.
Known only as Bongani, the middle-aged man was removed from the streets during lockdown last April.
He had been living under a tree near the municipal offices in Burgersfort and was placed at a homeless shelter in Steelpoort.
According to Sharon Makofane, a social worker, Bongani maintains he attended Mqigimbi Primary School
and Founders High School.
“When we Googled these, we found they are both in Zimbabwe. He does not have much information on family or friends. He keeps getting his information mixed up.”
Makofane said the man is currently at Jane Furse Hospital.
“We are failing to find his next of kin. The Department of Home Affairs has also failed to identify him. We are pleading with locals who can arrange alternative accommodation, because he doesn’t fi t the criteria of
being in hospital as he is not sick. Taking him back to the streets won’t be ethical.
“If there is someone willing to take care of him, we will assist with food parcels and other necessities while
figuring out a way forward – maybe a job or a grant for him.”
Anyone with information about this man or accommodation can call Makofane on 066-489-5680.
