In lonely death, Khatane awakens nation’s conscience
MBABANE - He may have died tragically, alone and helpless, but Khatane ‘Phineas’ Matsenjwa’s demise has awakened a fresh wave of ‘buntfu’ among emaSwati.
In death, Khatane has inspired a movement that shone a spotlight on the rising levels of poverty, homelessness and mental health issues in the country, with the need for everyone to play their part in finding practical solutions to the situation.
The man who all along was known to the public as ‘Phineas’Matsenjwa, met his lonely tragic death at the place he used to shelter himself in, under the gum trees lining the fence of the Blood Bank building, at Mbabane Government Hospital.
Discovered
His body was discovered by a pedestrian who alerted the police on an overbearing stench coming from the spot where Matsenjwa sheltered himself. What followed was a gruesome discovery of Matsenjwa’s remains in an advanced state of decomposition.
The exact date of death may never be known, but Matsenjwa’s body was retrieved on Sunday, November 13, 2022.
Estimated to be in his mid-60s in age, Matsenjwa was destined for a pauper’s funeral, owing to the fact that the police and the authorities, at the time, did not know his name, where he came from or his next of kin.
An unmarked grave, in a faraway place, awaited him, where he would be buried and forgotten. He lived his life in abject poverty and misery, and he would have been condemned into a lonely grave, eternally stripped of all his dignity. Such is the plight of hundreds of emaSwati, who face the daily struggle for survival, in grinding poverty.
No sooner had the news of Matsenjwa’s demise been broadcast on Channel Yemaswati, than when Musa Ndlangamandla, a veteran journalist who doubles as the Executive Director of Yibutse Green Action NPO, sprang into action with a unique initiative to give Matsenjwa a decent sendoff, which has garnered the support of emaSwati in their multitude. People from all walks of life have been making donations to the ‘Decent Send-off for
Khatane ‘Phineas’ Matsenjwa initiative driven by The Nation magazine (where Ndlangamandla works as the Associate Editor) and the Coordinating Assembly of Non-Governmental Organisation (CANGO).
Matsenjwa’s preferred spot for begging was the traffic lights intersection adjacent to the Mbabane Government Hospital, where he would be found accepting donations from motorists, sometimes during cold, rainy days. He cut a lonely figure under a signpost giving directions to the Municipal Council of Mbabane Abattoir.
For five years, that was his spot.
“I made Matsenjwa’s acquaintance late last year while driving to work, my wife Zoey would ask me to stop at the spot and she would give Matsenjwa some money. With time we became acquaintances as he would spot our car from a distance and with a smile and a sense of deep gratitude he would accept what Zoey, and on rare occasions myself, would give him,” said Ndlangamandla in an interview yesterday.
Nudged
“One day the journalist in me nudged me to visit him and find out about his life and where he came from. I drove to the spot where he sheltered himself and was met with a tear-jerking site of litter and squalor, which Matsenjwa had come to call home. I was gutted,” he said.
Matsenjwa was a loner and he did not appreciate people prying into his life or privacy, and he told me his name was Matsenjwa from Siteki.