Daily Sun (August 5 2013) - IT WAS a sad day for the family when they had to say their final goodbye to gogo Selina . . . But then the family received an unbelievable call from the funeral parlour . . . GOGO WAS ALIVE!
One of gogo Selina Nkomo's grandsons, Thabiso Mokgali (32) who was reluctant to give more details about how she was declared dead, said they heard on Thursday that the gogo had died. "It was a very emotional day," he said. "I received the call in the morning. I knew I had to make peace with her death because she was old." But then, said Thabiso, he got another call from a family member who told him that 94-year-old gogo Selina from Evaton in the Vaal was alive and he must come to Baragwanath Hospital.
"I thought it was a bad joke," said Thabiso. When he got to the hospital he saw that his grandmother was indeed alive. "I couldn't believe my eyes!" he said. "I hugged her and told her she was a remarkable woman and this was the best Women's Month present she could ever give her daughters."
Speaking to Daily Sun, Sidwell Moila (42), who discovered that the gogo was alive, said he'd been working for Ndhlovu & Sons funeral parlour in Orlando East, Soweto, for 16 years, but had never experienced anything like this. "We went to the house in Evaton on Thursday and collected the body of the gogo at about 9am. We placed it in a fridge in the mortuary in Orlando East at 10.30am after registering her details," he said.
Nkosinathi Thabete (29), who was working with Moiloa on the day, said they got a terrible fright when they looked in the fridge and the gogo lifted her hand and waved at them. "I can't tell you how shocked we were," he said. "First we ran outside. Then we ran back in again. We saw that the gogo was alive"
Sidwell said the old lady was in the fridge for about three hours." Nkosinathi said gogo could not speak and was shivering from the cold. "We took her out of the fridge and gave her a blanket and water before taking her to Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Diepkloof."
Grandson Thabiso said he was grateful to the men who took his grandmother to hospital. "They could have let her die because of the money we were going to pay for her burial. I pray that God blesses them," Thabete said. Gogo is recovering in hospital.
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