Jo Mdhlela

Jo Mdhlela

I cannot come to terms with the cold fact that you, Sindile Sithole, have gone the way of all flesh.

At only 32, with a great future ahead of you, you decided to give up the ghost and die in unclear circumstances.

And as you lie stone dead in the coffin that encases your body, you must know, padre, I am squirming in pain.

I am literally and figuratively shouting on top of my voice all the unprintable expletives, cursing you, and your gods, for all the inexplicable reasons that have led to your early grave.

I told you that I was your big brother and a colleague. Like you, I am priest in the order of Melchizedek, a priest forever, whatever the circumstances.

You and I were called to be the shepherds of God's people in God's church and in God's world. I promised you I would be by your side whenever life's storms threaten to consume you.

Two weeks ago you were a picture of health, full of life, and led the church's strategic planning meeting, planning to turn around the church's fortunes for the better. Now, suddenly you are gone.

Reverend Father Sithole, a canon in the Anglican Church, and a former tutor of church history and the new testament at the Anglican Seminary, the College of Transfiguration, in Grahamstown, died last Saturday at his vicarage.

At the time of his sudden death, Sithole was the rector of the Parish of St Peter's Chains Anglican Church, in Katlehong.

Born in Daveyton, Benoni, on November 5 1975, Sithole matriculated at Rivonia High in 1994, and went on to finish his theological studies in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape.

At the time of his death he was engaged in post-graduate studies at Unisa.

Father Sithole will be buried today at the Rynsoord Cemetery, Benoni, at 11am after a requiem mass to be conducted at the Christ the Redeemer Anglican Church, Daveyton, at 9am.

He is survived by his wife, Princess and two children.