The late Mukegulu Vho-Marandela Tshiguvho (87) will be remembered as a compassionate matriarch, leader and community builder who had fed the poor and housed the destitute.
Tshiguvho died in the Thohoyandou National Health Centre on 20 October after a long illness and was buried at Maraxwe graveyard on Saturday, 30 October, where family and friends gave her a dignified send-off.
Mukegulu Vho-Tshiguvho was business manager for Edwin Tshiguvho Transport, one of her children's companies, based in Tshidane village. She was also an agricultural expert who specialized in growing vegetables, such as maize, sweet potato, mustard and beans.
"Her generous hospitality allowed even passers-by to eat from her produce. She hated conflict, promoting love and peace among her children and the communities instead. She taught them how to deal with poverty and to have compassion for and help those who had less," said a close relative, Mr Mashudu Ramarumo.
Tshiguvho was a staunch member of the Lutheran Church in Mianzwi village. Ramarumo said she used to tell her children and other residents in Tshidane and Mianzwi villages to follow in the footsteps of the late president, Nelson Mandela, who said: "Education is the most powerful weapon to fight poverty."
All her own children had graduated with exceptional grades and had, one after the other, become successful in their own careers.
Mukegulu Vho-Tshiguvho is survived by eight children, 26 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.