Family mourns playful Emihle

[caption id="attachment_225295" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Family members of Emihle Nkayi, from left, siblings Asive, 10, and Imange, 5, mourn with their
father Godfrey Nkahla and grandmother Hilda Nkahla.
Picture: Eugene Coetzee[/caption]

A playful child who loved his family is the way Godfrey Nkahla will remember his son Emihle, who died at the weekend when he fell under a truck. Emihle, 10, was killed after he lost his grip on the truck when he tried to hitch a ride and fell under its wheels on Saturday.

Yesterday, Nkahla, 42, said Emihle loved his family, friends, school and the outdoors. Speaking from their Mngcunube Street home in KwaNobuhle, Nkahla said his son’s death had left him a broken man.

Emihle, who lived with his father and grandmother, was killed about 300m from his home, after going to a nearby shop with friends. Nkahla said Emihle had been playing outside with friends when he had given them money so they could buy treats.

“I can’t tell you exactly what happened, because I was at home,” Nkahla said. What I was told by one of the boys with him [was that] he hung onto a truck passing by and lost his grip. “The boy said he fell under the wheel of the truck and when the truck passed he was just lying there, unable to move.

“I warned him many times not to do this, as it is dangerous. I even disciplined him for doing it. “He was still alive when I arrived. His left leg was totally flattened due to the weight of the truck but I could see he was struggling.” He said Emihle’s little sister, Othandwayo, 4, asks for him each morning.

“She is still too small to understand.

She keeps calling for him.” Emihle’s distraught grandmother, Hilda Nkahla, 66, said: “He was my helper when I sold my fruit and vegetables here in the community – now I have to find someone else.

“All I do now is pray for my family,” she said looking at a picture of Emihle on Godfrey’s cellphone.

“I have not been sleeping well. All I can think about is his little face smiling at me.”

Emihle’s mother, Lindeka Nkayi, 45, who arrived to fetch his birth certificate yesterday, said despite having to be strong for her other children, she felt like a part of her was missing.

“I actually don’t know how to feel, there are so many emotions floating around. “I know he is in a better place [but] I can’t help but think of him every day.” Emihle’s twin brother, Asive, said he would miss sharing a room with his brother.

Police spokesman Sergeant Majola Nkohli said the driver had not been arrested but a case of culpable homicide had been opened for investigation.