Enock Mpianzi’s body transferred to Joburg as family prepares 'dignified send-off'

The mood was sombre at Enock Mpianzi’s home on Wednesday as visitors paid their respects to the bereaved family.

Walking into the secure home in the Johannesburg suburb of Malvern, guests were welcomed by a family representative who led them to a sitting room. 

Family portraits — including of Enoch — hung on the wall.

Family members, mostly women, sat on mattresses. Some bowed their heads. Enock's mother, Anto, looked up at the ceiling with tears pouring down her face.    

Family spokesperson Sebastian Kodiemoka gave a chilling account and broke down in tears as he recalled the pain endured by the family.

The teenager went missing during a Parktown Boys' High School orientation camp at Nyati Bush and Riverbreak lodge in the North West last week. His body was later recovered in the Crocodile River after a raft he and other pupils had made overturned in strong currents.

Asked how the family was coping, Kodiemoka told TimesLIVE: “We are heartbroken, very saddened by the situation, but we need to receive all the comfort we are receiving during this time.”  

Enock's body was transferred to a Joburg mortuary on Tuesday from the North West, said Kodiemoka.

“We have not finalised the burial and memorial arrangements, but as the family we are preparing to give him a dignified send-off,” he said.

He confirmed that Enock would be buried in Johannesburg, where he was born. “The family has been in SA for more than 20 years, so he will be buried here. It would not make sense for us to take him to Congo, which is an unknown land to him.”

EFF leader Julius Malema was among those who visited the family to offer his condolences.

“Mama, papa, please receive our condolences. You are not alone. We are here with you. We’ll find answers together and we will bury this young man together in a dignified way, which you as the family shall lead.

“Our support to the family does not in any way put any condition on this family. We are genuinely here to support you. We are behind you — anything you want,” said Malema.