LIMPOPO – Hosi Nkomo, Maphusha Ngwazana Lemonade Mahumani (91), the father of Hosi Nkomo the fifth, did not only leave a legacy of good deeds which he did while he was alive, but also left a legacy in the form of his children.
Hosi Nkomo had 88 children with 12 wives, 18 of which have passed on along with two of his wives, while another two of his wives were said to have gone back home to their parents. He is therefore survived by eight wives, 70 out of 88 children and more than 125 grandchildren. In his days of glory he was well-known by his nickname “Muchini” translated as “the machine” for his way of life with women. His funeral was filled with jokes and laughter from both his children and the people he lived with during his days.
Many who spoke at his funeral described him as a person who did a lot in his community, using his influence as a chief to encourage people to contribute money for the building of schools and clinics during Apartheid.
“He was the kind of person who did things diplomatically, hence he was able to convince people to contribute money to build schools willingly at the time when people had to do things themselves,” said the South African Ambassador in Congo, Rich Baloyi, who is the former minister of Public Service and Administration in the country.
“Getting people to do things diplomatically is a skill which many leaders should practice, because once you use dictatorship, people on the ground become defensive and fight back,” he continued.
Apart from his skills, the deceased had also earned respect for not being greedy, after he stepped down from his throne in 1999 at the age of 74 and allowed his son, Aaron Mahumani to lead the community as the fifth chief of Nkomo village.
Briefing the mourners, Mahumani said his father was a generous man who loved God, saying in the weeks before he died he had asked his family to contribute money to help his church build another structure. “He called all of us together and told us that there was a need for money to build another structure at the church where he attends at,” explained Mahumani, the current chief in the village saying his father had insisted that they build something regardless of whether they were members of the church or not.
“And indeed, as a family we did as he commanded us. We will all remember him through this kind of generosity and the good things he did for all of us” he said.
thoko@nmgroup.co.za
