“These people are going to kill me.”
These were the last words of Alvina Mammie Mokoena, a 55-year-old Vision of God member who was fatally shot by callous thugs during a church service in Vosloorus, east of Joburg, during the Easter weekend.
Two other congregants were admitted to a hospital.
Maria Mabe, a close friend of Mokoena’s, who was inside the building when the shooters attacked, said she kept having flashbacks of that tragic night.
“In my 74 years of being alive, I’ve never seen anything like that. As someone who has a heart condition, I came back from church ill due to that.”
Mabe said they were holding a church service when gun-wielding men blitzed into the church building and demanded cellphones and money.
Mabe said during the attack, Mokoena screamed, “these people are going to kill me,” just before the gun went off.
“I cannot remember how many they were because everything happened so quickly, but they shot her in the head once, and she fell to the ground.
“They wanted phones and money, which they took,” Mabe said. “I don’t know why they shot her.”
Mokoena’s daughter, Xolisile, claimed that when instructed to go and identify her mother’s body, she was not acting rationally.
“We received a phone call from the church priest to come and identify my mother’s body, and that sight is still stuck in my head and eyes.
“Nothing could have prepared me for that. They shot my mother in the head; what [wrong] had she done?” asked the emotional Xolisile.
Xolisile, whose family comes from Pienaar in Mbombela, Mpumalanga, said they found it difficult to accept their -mother’s death.
“I am not okay. We are not okay because of the way my mother was killed. There’s this horrible feeling I have that I cannot shake off because of this incident,” she added.
Xolisile went on to say that her mother was a devoted follower of God who never missed church.
“Funny enough, before she left for church, she and I had a small misunderstanding, and she ended up saying she would not go to church because I hadn’t done what she had asked me to do or the way she wanted it done.
“But because she loved church, she left anyway, and this happened.
“I wish she had remained at home,” she lamented.
According to Xolisile, killing people in churches has become prevalent, and they were afraid the criminals would pounce on them as they were preparing for their mother’s funeral.
Despite receiving news of the arrest of those wanted for her mother’s murder, she indicated that the family felt this would not help their healing in any way.
“How is that going to help? It’s not like my mother will return. The long court processes will delay our healing.”
Xolisile said they will remember her mother as a -loving and kind person.
“My mother had a good heart; she loved people and would always lend a helping hand. I took those qualities from her.”
Mokoena was laid to rest last Sunday at her home inNelspruit.
She is survived by her three children.
