A beautiful, vibrant, and healthy young woman suddenly develops a bad headache, loses consciousness, and mere hours later she is pronounced dead. The cause of death is reported as non-contagious bacterial meningitis.
Naledi Ntsonta turned 17 years old on 23 July. She is described as a bubbly, spontaneous, spirit-filled child. The pastor of the Welkom Baptist Church, Joshua Bolaji, says they are shattered. “Naledi had brilliant health, no autoimmune disease.”
Naledi died on Wednesday, 30 July, at her mother’s home in Bedelia, Welkom.
Bolaji says that he and Naledi’s mother, Tlaleng Ntsonta, were informed of the autopsy results on Wednesday evening while the police were still at the house investigating an unnatural death, mere hours after she had died at MediClinic Welkom. He says the autopsy was done at the Bongani Regional Hospital, and they were informed of the results while the police were still at the house busy with their investigations.
She was so sweet and focused, kind, smart, she was that girl to everyone. She firmly believed in Christ, and I know she is now with the Lord. We will grieve, we will cry, we recognise this as a terrible moment, but we all know where she is now
Pastor Joshua Bolaji
Bolaji says Naledi was like a daughter to him. “She was so sweet and focused, kind, smart, she was that girl to everyone. She firmly believed in Christ, and I know she is now with the Lord. We will grieve, we will cry, we recognise this as a terrible moment, but we all know where she is now.”
Naledi was a Gr. 11 learner at the Welkom High School. “She was popular at school, always with a twinkle in her eye. She was an astute scholar and wanted to become a geologist when she left school.”
Bolajo says friends and family are finding it difficult to process her sudden and inexplicable death. “As far as I know, there was no contact with anyone with meningitis, we know of no-one who has it. She was not ill. Her sudden death is puzzling.”
Bolaji says Naledi came home from school on Wednesday and did homework and laundry, nothing out of the ordinary. Later in the afternoon she started complaining of a bad headache. “We were busy with the youth at church when her mother telephoned that she was unresponsive in the passage.”
Bolaji says she was transported to hospital but attempts to resuscitate her were futile and she was pronounced dead. Naledi will be buried from the Baptist Church in Welkom on Saturday, 9 August, at 10:00.
She is survived by her mother and brother, Vuyo (25).
