My parents died during a hijacking on the N1 road of Polokwane. I was less than three days old. It is something that I can’t explain although I witnessed it. All I did was cry in the back seat of the car. My granny took me in, raised me like her own. I called her Mama and even now I still do. I found out that she was not my mom at the age of 13 and this almost caused tension between us. I wanted to know my parents. She took me to the graveyard to show me my parents. I couldn’t picture their faces, I wouldn’t be able to even if I tried. They were six-feet underground.

After that day I couldn’t sleep. I was thinking about the pain that I had caused my granny. She was all that I had. We were struggling to find food and she was not receiving elderly social grand, she only got the social grant that was meant for me. Mom and Dad were shareholders of some local company. They were the major shareholders and I had no idea about it.

Granny had papers, but she couldn’t read them. I read them and then found out that they were the shareholders of in a big market. I couldn’t understand the big terms that were used in the contracts. I knew that a contract was a bond between two or more people. My uncle was working at that same company. He was married and his wife was not approved to be part of the family, for what reasons, I didn’t know.

Uncle hated granny but he was always nice to me. So I decided to ask for his help. I made copies of the contracts and gave him. He was furious and asked me where I got them from. It was terrible; I had never seen him like that before. I told him the truth. He asked me where the originals are. I had to lie and tell him that there were no other papers. He gave me R100. I was surprised and happy at the same time.

One day when I came from school I was surprised to see a beautiful and expensive car at our gate. I found a lady and a gentleman busy discussing me with my granny. It felt terrible, I wanted to run away. I thought they were the police and even though I didn’t commit any crimes I was still scared. I went to them and greeted. They gave me papers to sign. I asked what they are about and they explained that they were about my parents’ assets. Uncle had taken my parents’ cars and townhouse.

He gave me and Gogo the village house. It wasn’t bad. The lawyers gave me full information about my parents’ company. I was to inherit all the property and I had to let someone act on my behalf till I was 18. Gogo called a family meeting the day after. Uncle didn’t show up. It was on Sunday just after the New Year. I was about to be 14 years old. Uncle sent his lawyer instead and they told us to move out of the house in less than 48 hours or we would be arrested.

On Monday I went to school. It was a good day at school and I started to pay attention to Economics. I became an addict in a day. After school I took an extra Economics class. I was all by myself. Others were busy practicing Math. After three hours I went home.

I was very hungry and so it took me by surprise that the pots were empty. It was a sign that Gogo hadn’t cooked. I went outside to ask her why but she was not there. I went to her room to find her in a pool of blood. That’s the only thing that I remember. I woke up at my friend’s place and I was told that I fainted next to my granny. She was taken to the funeral service provider and uncle came home for the first time in many years. He managed to set up a funeral in the same week. Gogo was buried on same weekend after her dead.

The police wanted someone who had information that could lead them to the suspects. Uncle took me in to his townhouse. He didn’t even show emotions of pain during his mother’s funeral. One night my uncle’s wife came over to my room. She was just looking at me like I was a piece of good. I woke up and looked her in the eyes.

“Go to sleep, you’ve got nothing to worry about,” she said.

I couldn’t sleep but I pretended to be asleep. It wasn’t comfortable to be in that house, I was missing home, a real home with grandma. After 3 months, Uncle got arrested for murder. No one told me the whole story but I heard that his hit man got arrested and gave the police all information they needed.

The same person who killed grandma was the one who had murdered my parents. His wife was excluded, but she seemed to be the mastermind behind the whole situation. The lawyers came again. They wanted me to delegate someone to look after my assets. They even told me the whole truth about my parents’ death.

I then found out who murdered my parent and why they did. Uncle was trying to get bail out of jail. Everything he stole from my late parents was transferred to me, the rightful owner. It turned out that someone was overhearing, purposefully. She started to realise that the threat had increased and made a plan to get rid me. She arranged a house robbery and the plan was to kill me and hurt her.

She didn’t care about the pain. All she cared for was the money and status. Before 7 p.m. at night, the police took me to see if I had any other things they could use to prevent Uncle’s parole. That was one of the things that Aunty didn’t expect. She had no contact with the hired men and I was saved by a mistake. At 8 p.m. three men broke in.

She tried to fight back. They raped her. She was so furious that she took a knife and stabbed one of the men to death. They ended up killing her. They took a few things with them and left. The police captain thought it would be safe if one of his men took me back home. The policeman insisted on seeing me safely inside of the house. He knocked at the door and there was no response.

He went to the other side of the house to have a look. While he was looking around he noticed that the back door was open. He called for backup. He went inside to see if Aunty was OK but he found that she was no more. This was terrible. First, it was my parents, then granny and now Aunty. It gave me a fright. I could be next or maybe Uncle was wrongfully arrested.

I also feared for him in prison, he could easily get killed behind bars. The following day was his bail hearing. I wanted to support him, he just lost his wife, I thought to myself. After he was told about his wife’s dead he had a change of heart and changed his statement and confessed that he was responsible. He also told the police that he wanted control over my parents’ company and that’s why he killed them.

He pleaded guilty in exchange that the police take him to pay his respects to his beloved. He didn’t bother apologizing to me. I have no one because of him. He had a child who was 8 years in age, a girl. She liked me and I like her. She was in private school overseas. I asked the lawyers to let the company pay her fees for the whole year.

It was about time she came home. I wanted her near me. We could be better than our parents together. What I couldn’t understand was whether she blamed me for what happened to her parents or not. I had faith that she was better than her parents. Her father got a 15-year jail sentence. It was my duty to raise my cousin.

Maybe what I could do was to wait for her to return and maybe her true colours would show and she would try to take over the company like her parents. What I wanted to do was to see my parents and granny so I could apologise. They were dead because for their love for me.

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Tell us what you think: Do you think money is the root of all evil or are people just evil?