Motivational Speaker Nkululeko Khanyi became the hero of the day when he assisted a family from Phongolo in KwaZulu Natal to bury four of their relatives. The deceased, Doctor Nkosi, his wife Gcinile Nkosi and their two children Anele and Asande died in a car accident in December 2022. The car of the family from Margasson in Ermelo, Mpumalanga, collided head-on with a truck and caught fire. The whole family burnt beyond recognition after they were trapped inside the burning car.  

 
LONG WAIT FOR DNA RESULTS 

The deceased's family was told it would take the police up to eight months to release the remains as DNA tests needed to be conducted on the victims. Speaking to ZiMoja ,Khanyi who hails from Phongolo in the far north of KwaZulu Natal, said he decided to help the Nkosi's after he realised that they were going to wait forever to bury their loved ones. "The pain the family was going through was too much to wait for months without burying their loved ones. Imagine having to mourn someone you love while they are at a government for months without burying them so that you can be able to move on with life. It was too much. Another thing was that there was a possibility that they were going to wait more than the normal six months as there are many bodies that have not been touched," he said. 

GOING AN EXTRA MILE 

Khanyi told ZiMoja that he had to call people in high places to enable the family to do DNA tests in a private laboratory. "We managed to get the Nkosi family remains tested and positively identified. As a result, the family was able to bury them," Khanyi said. He added that the sad thing about his experience when dealing with the Nkosi case was that he discovered that there were bodies from 2020 that were still in the queue to be tested and that the families were still waiting for DNA results. 

CLOSURE FOR THE FAMILY  

Khanyi said the DNA testing process is long and can be frustrating. "We knew that the family was going to struggle to bury their loved ones since they were burnt beyond recognition. I am grateful I managed to help them find closure. It has been a long bumpy road but finally they were laid to rest peacefully," he said. Thembelihle Nkosi, who is the deceased man's sister, said that the family was grateful for what Khanyi did for them. "The past two months have been stressful to us, we are thankful to Khanyi for everything he did for us. We can now mourn them properly and start with our road to healing since we know they are resting in peace,"  "My parents will also heal because they could hardly sleep knowing my brother and his family were in a mortuary," she added. The Nkosi family were buried last weekend.