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Partners
It’s the umpteenth shock Marietjie Vosloo has had to face since her stepdaughter Mundolene (17) died in Mauritius, and her son Marnuwico (13) lost his life in a freak accident on his trail bike in Margate.
The sibling who’s stood by her during her nightmare experience of 18 months of incarceration in Mauritius has died.
Jan Jacobs (45) passed away last Sunday, 4 August in Springs on the East Rand after he’d become desperately ill in the early hours of the morning and was rushed to hospital by ambulance.
“I just hope I’ve seen the last of it now. I don’t know . . . how many shocks can a person cope with,” Marietjie (36) told YOU from Rustenburg, North West.
Three years have passed since the shock incident in Mauritius where Mundolene died on the first day of the family’s holiday.
Marietjie, who’d slapped Mundolene’s face during an argument on 5 October 2016, spent 18 months in jail before the court ruled that the slap on its own couldn’t have caused the massive brain haemorrhage Mundolene had suffered.
While Marietjie was being labelled a “monster stepmother” and “murderer”, Jan steadfastly supported his sister. He was one of her last surviving family members.
The angel of death has called on Marietjie frequently since she was very young. Both of her parents as well as her older brother and sister were already deceased by then. Only Jan, their 37-year-old youngest brother (Marietjie prefers not to disclose his name), were still alive.
In January 2018 Jan told YOU in an interview that his sister would never have deliberately sent Mundolene to her death. “If that happened to me, I wouldn’t have survived,” he said.
When Marietjie returned from Mauritius in April last year she moved in with Jan in Springs. But she’d hardly arrived when she learnt that her husband Mike, who’s Mundolene’s father, wanted to sue for divorce.
It was also Jan who comforted her when her and Mike’s beloved 13-year-old Marnuwico (13) died in a freak accident on his trail bike in November last year in Margate, KwaZulu-Natal. Now she must deal with Jan’s passing too.
“Jan and I were very close. I visited him every second weekend,” Marietjie says.
She and her only surviving brother was with Jan when he’d suddenly fallen ill on the weekend.
“We’re all terribly shocked. When he went to bed on the Saturday night Jan was completely fine. He was cracking jokes . . .”
Around 2 am on Sunday 4 August Jan woke her up. She thought he might have eaten something the night before that upset his stomach.
“He said he wasn’t feeling well and vomited in the bathroom. He called oiut to me and asked me to please bring him some water. Then vomited again and asked for more water.”
His condition deteriorated soon thereafter and they called
the ambulance.
Jan doesn’t have medical aid and was admitted to the Far East Rand state hospital.
The following day Marietjie wasn’t allowed into his ward.
“I just stood at the door. He seemed okay. I looked at him and I’m sure he saw me. That afternoon the doctor said he was very ill. He suffered from high blood pressure. They say the official cause of death was hypertension and dehydration, but I think he probably had a heart attack.”
She stays composed as she tells us that the kind-hearted Jan was a very spontaneous person.
“He was quite shy and reserved but when he was with us, we didn’t have a dull moment.”
Marietjie accept that Jan is better off now. “His partner died in December 2016. He always told us how much he was missing him.”
Sy believes Mundolene, Marnuwico and Jan are together in heaven now.
“His death doesn’t worry me that much. People probably think that I’m unfeeling but my faith carries me. I don’t think God fetches you without a reason; your time is your time. I believe they’re all having a party up there now.”
Talking about Marnuwico, her sense of loss is still palpable.
“It’s been eight months already. It gets to me me every time I see a movie or listen to a song I knew he’d like. What comforts me is that he’s out of this cruel world now. Away from the hurt, pain, the bullies. He’s now forever 13 and the happiest he could ever be.”
New love
Marietjie, who these days devotes herself to supporting people who’ve suffered a loss, believes the only way to overcome loss is through acceptance.
She also reveals a new excitement in her life: she’s found love again.
“We’ve been talking on social media for the last seven months. He’s 39 and from Ventersdorp. He’s working on a farm in America.”
She’s considering joining him one day when hopefully her criminal record will no longer count against her.
“I think I need a break like that.”
