CORRESPONDENCE
The family of MI- Kyla Booysen says plans are underway to establish a foundation in her honor. Booysen is one of three South Africans who were killed by a Zimbabwean national, Collen Mhlanga, in a road accident in June last year. Mhlanga was sentenced to ten years in prison of which two years were suspended.
On 31 June 2024, Mhlanga ran over with his employer’s bakkie a 16-year-old Omphile Jonas before crashing the minibus taxi ferrying members of Patriotic Alliance home. Mi-Kyla and Cavino Matthews both died as a result of the crash. He was found guilty of culpable homicide charges and of contravention of the immigration act charges.
In an exclusive interview with Mi-Kyla’s family, his father, Kenneth Booysen, vowed to keep her daughter’s legacy alive.
“My daughter was passionate about her involvement in the Patriotic PA. She also loved education but dropped out of University because she didn’t want to be taught by a foreign lecturer,” said Booysen.
“Since there are so many youth in the country who are affected by exclusion from enrollment at the institutions of higher learning, as a family, we have decided to establish a Mi-Kyla Booysen Foundation to help students from poor backgrounds.”
PA President Gayton McKenzie said the leadership has given the family a go-ahead to establish the foundation.
He added that the party had fruitful engagements with family, which will support the move.
Meanwhile, Booysen told us that they were appealing the lenient sentence.
” We informed our lawyer about our intention to appeal. This man has destroyed our lives for killing our children. We want him to be held accountable for his actions. How come you give someone who has killed people five years and fine him”? Asked Booysen.
Meanwhile, Omphile Jonas’ family said the case has proven that South Africans are foreigners in their own country. The family said that at the time of his death, Omphile was about to tour India with the Northern Cape cricket team.
Comments are closed.