By David Gemmell
Johannesburg - The appeal two weeks ago for funds to get Zoroao, the little hunchbacked man who used to beg on Bompas Road, buried in Mozambique was a big success.
With a former editor of The Star, who wishes to remain anonymous, opening the batting by donating R1 000, plus the 11 payments made using ‘The Star’ as a reference totaling R10 825.00, and the owner of Parea restaurant, Nicolas Nikitidis donating R4 000, it didn’t take long to raise the required amount.
I stopped in at Parea this week, to ask Nikitidis about his relationship with Zoroao and thank him for his generous donation. “I knew him for maybe the last 10 years,” he said.
(Parea has been at the same spot at the top of Corlett Drive for a staggering 31 years.)
“He was always cheerful and never a problem. The staff also liked him and would feed him and have long discussions with the bright little chap. Sadly, at the end he seemed to be having trouble with other street people – he said he was attacked,” Nikitidis added.
Heidi, one of the Jewish Mommies who initiated the appeal, says for the last few years, Zoroao lived in a hedge on the border of her property and not in his house in Tembisa, where he lived when I interviewed him. She often saw him and they would chat and catch up but no mention was ever made of his wife and child. Which is curious.
Fast forward to recent times. One evening he called Heidi to arrange an Uber for him, as he said he wanted to visit Tembisa.
“We had to lift him over the hedge,” she said. “He had become terribly thin and fragile and couldn’t do it himself.”
Heidi noticed he had put on a new pair of jeans, a fresh T-shirt and had made himself look as presentable as he could. Once he was in the Uber, he said to her, “You won’t see me again – please tell anyone who helped me, I am grateful”, and before she could say a word, he was gone. Soon after, she discovered he had died. They have so far been unable to get the cause of death from the hospital.
She recently posted this on the Jewish Mommies’ Facebook page: “Words cannot describe how proud and grateful we are. Joburg your outpouring of concern and generosity with regards to help us raise funds for Zoroao has been amazing. I’m not only talking about financial help to give him a dignified burial. The comments of genuine respect and care, I believe, gave his soul some peace.”
At the end of a sad, but also somewhat heartening little tale, a massive R31 855.55 was raised. Any extra money is being sent to the family. As I write, two drivers are on their way to Mozambique taking Zoroao home. His funeral was to be held this week.