Memorial service for Emmanuel (Sithole) Josias in Alex

Mozambique national Emmanuel Sithole, real name Emmanuel Josias, will be remembered by his family and Alex residents at a memorial service which will be held at the East Bank Community Hall in Alexandra at 1pm today.

The memorial was organised by The South African Council of Churches.

Reverend Gift Moerane, from the Council, said that they were expecting about 30 family members to attend.

According to eNCA Josias’s cousin Thando, confirmed that she and other family members would attend the memorial.

The Mozambiques High Commissioner in South Africa, Fernando Fazenda, is also expected to attend as well as former first lady of Mozambique and the wife of former president Nelson Mandela,  Graca Machel.

According to Drum, Zuma said on Monday that Sithole used a fake name to avoid detection because he was an illegal immigrant.

Josias' name has been left out of the official count of victims killed during xenophobic attacks:

•Marcus Natas‚ an Ethiopian national who was petrol bombed in Umlazi near Durban.

•A Zimbabwean national‚ known only as Muvo‚ who was attacked by a mob in Chatsworth‚ near Durban.

•Dava Sabastio‚ a Mozambican national‚ was attacked by a mob in Verulam‚ Durban.

•Shaofic Shaof Ul Alam‚ a Bangladeshi‚ was shot in Plessislaer‚ Pietermaritzburg.

•South Africans Thabo Owen Mzobe‚ Ayanda Dlamini and Petros Dlamini‚ all from Durban‚ also died.