Cape Town - The friends of the Mozambican salon owner Melita Mangane, who was shot and killed in Samora Machel at the weekend after failing to pay extortionists, have turned to the public to assist with her burial.
It has now emerged that Mangane has no family members in the country, had cut ties with her family in Mozambique and left her 16-year-old daughter currently doing her matric with no birth certificate.
Mangane had not been paying the “protection fees” for years and a day before she was shot by the protection fee collectors the assailants had allegedly instructed her to close down her salon.
A close friend of Mangane, who asked not to be named, said the woman had been in the country for more than 20 years and they had been friends since 2006. Since then Mangane had been dressing hair as her primary source of income.
The friend said Mangane had left them with more questions than answers.
“The community of Mozambicans in Cape Town also tells us that she was not contributing to their burial society and they cannot assist.
“We asked the ward councillor for assistance and were advised to ask for donations. There is not much we know about her or her family besides that she is one of 19 siblings, her mother, called Rebecca, has also passed on.
“She also told us that she has a son she left back home with the neighbours, but we don’t know the exact location in Mozambique,” she said.
The close friend said Mangane’s daughter was also struggling to obtain a birth certificate and they were worried that this would hinder her from sitting for exams. Mangane also had no ID and her passport had expired.
“When her passport expired she never renewed it and when her friends advised her to fix her documentation to enable her daughter to apply for a birth certificate she declined for fear of being deported,” she said.
While the friends are attempting to locate Magane’s family and the biological father of her daughter, one of the women who looked after her daughter while she was a toddler until she was age six years old said she would take her in.
“In 2016 when her daughter was still with me she once brought a man who she said was her daughter’s father who stayed in Khayelitsha.
“We are appealing to him to come forward if he wants to play a role in his daughter’s life as she would eventually need someone with a connection back home,” she said.
Police spokesperson Malcolm Pojie said Samora Machel detectives were probing a murder case.
Anyone with information can call the nearest police station or Crime Stop at 08600 10111. To assist with the burial, please call one of the friends at 078 551 3265.