Family finally bid farewell to medical student Sibusiso Qongqo

After a distressing battle with the government to get their son’s body repatriated, on Tuesday the Qongqo family in Ngqwarhu was finally able to lay their son, Sibusiso, a medical student in Cuba, to rest.

Sibusiso’s elder brother, Khulasanda and his aunt, Nogolide Qongqo, who went to Cuba last week after the government agreed to repatriate the body, returned to South Africa with the remains on Saturday.

Family spokesperson Ayanda Qongqo said the family was at peace to see Sibusiso’s body resting next to his father’s, as they had hoped.

“It was difficult for us to get his remains home. We were given two options – to have him buried in Cuba and exhume his bones after three years or to have his body cremated. We were given only 48 hours to sign the papers, which we refused to do.”

The Rep reported (Family demand their son’s body, June 5) that Eastern Cape department of health MEC Sindiswa Gomba had said in a letter the costs were too high to repatriate the body.

“We are grateful to the South African government and the provincial government for making the repatriation possible,” Qongqo said.

Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane paid the family a visit last week, to see how they were doing.

He said: “We will remember Sibusiso as a young man who had a great vision, who was humble and loved to smile. You would never see him bothering anyone.”