Dompas reunites exile’s family

Long-lost kin find their SA relatives

The infamous apartheid passbook – the dompas forced upon black people – served as the link between the German daughter of an exiled South African man, Mpikeleli Alpheus Kubeka, and his family back in Orange Farm, south of Johannesburg.

But until Mpikeleli’s German-born daughter Melinda Breitkopf took to Facebook in search of her South African roots, the Kubeka family in Orange Farm had no idea that their relative had died in Germany 15 years ago.

Now, the family of Kubeka, who was born in Johannesburg and went into exile in 1977, are desperate to raise funds to travel to Germany to meet the children Kubeka fathered.

The family also wants to bring his remains back home to be with his ancestors.

Breitkopf said her father died when she was five years old.

Kubeka’s siblings, Mpumelelo, Banele and Poppy, said that after seeing Breitkopf’s story in the newspapers they took to social media to try to connect with her.

“It was a story about a young woman who needed help in finding her father’s family who she had little information about,” said Banele. “She mentioned our late parents’ names [Miriam and Simon] and everything then dawned on me – she was my brother’s daughter. She was family.”

He said he managed to make contact with Breitkopf.

Banele said before leaving the country, his brother had given a relative his dompas and that is all the siblings had to connect them with Mpikeleli.

“I had to prove to Melinda that we were related. I took a picture of the dompas and sent it to her. She then confirmed that it was indeed her father,” said Banele.

“Among the three of us, only Mpumelelo met Mpikeleli but he was only a year old when Mpikeleli went into exile.

“Our parents never told us much. All we know is that he was in exile but no one knew where exactly.”

The family has since established that Kubeka was a member of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania.

They now intend travelling to Germany to meet their brother’s children – Sipho, Vanessa, Mandy, Melinda, Mainos, Cinderella and and his grandchildren.

“My brother’s children look exactly like our mother. We just want to go to Germany and find out as much as we can about our brother,” said Mpumelelo.

Mpikeleli Alpheus Kubeka, who went into exile in 1977, poses for a picture with two of his children, Sipho and Melinda and their German mother. Kubeka, who died 15 years, ago had six children in Germany. His SA family had his dompas which they used to...

/THULANI MBELE Mpumelelo, Poppy and Banele Kubeka have reconnected with a child of their brother, who died in Germany. The family is eager to find out more about their relatives there. On the right are Mpikeleli Kubeka’s children and grandchildren