WHEN a life is taken without warning, when a final promise is left unfulfilled and when a family is forced to bury a loved one far too soon, the question of “why?” can become almost impossible to silence.
But as the Masilela and Nxumalo families laid 26-year-old Tiyandza Millenia Masilela to rest on Sunday morning, Reverend Mfanaleni Mkhatshwa delivered a message that confronted that question head-on; do not blame God.
Tiyandza died at Bhunu Mall in Manzini on August 19 after a concrete slab collapsed on her the previous afternoon, August 18, while she was at work. She was trapped beneath the rubble, prompting an approximately 11-hour rescue operation as emergency personnel worked through the night to reach her.
Despite the prolonged efforts to retrieve her, Tiyandza was eventually found dead beneath the rubble.
Her body was retrieved from the collapsed structure after the hours-long operation, bringing a tragic end to the rescue effort.
Speaking at Tiyandza’s funeral at her paternal homestead in Lomahasha, where family, friends, colleagues and neighbours gathered to bid her farewell, Reverend Mkhatshwa acknowledged the enormity of the loss but urged the bereaved families not to allow their grief to turn them away from God.
“It would be a good reason for you, Nxumalo and Masilela families to accuse God,” he said. However, he reminded them that God remained worthy of praise even when life did not go as expected.
“God is worthy to be praised, honoured, in and out of season. Be comforted and please do not stop worshipping God, family,” he said.
To explain his message, Reverend Mkhatshwa turned to Job 19:25: “But I know my redeemer lives and that in the end, He will come to earth and I will see Him with my eyes. Oh, how my heart yearns for Him.”
He said Job provided one of the clearest examples of maintaining faith in God despite suffering a loss that could have given him every reason to question Him. Job, he explained, had known what it meant for life to go well. He was wealthy, had livestock and children whose lives were flourishing. He regularly honoured God and sought His protection over his family. But everything changed in a single day. Job lost his livestock and most painfully, all his children.
He said Job had to learn, in a single day, what it meant to lose everything. He drew a parallel with the Masilela and Nxumalo families, saying they too had experienced a devastating loss in circumstances they could never have anticipated.
The suddenness of Tiyandza’s death, Reverend Mkhatshwa said, was particularly painful because life had been expected to continue as normal.
He recalled how Tiyandza had told one of her young relatives not to cook because she would return with a meal.
“Tiyandza told one of her young relatives not to cook as she would come back with a meal,” he said.
But she never returned.
“That relative learnt in one day how it felt to have an unfulfilled promise,” Rev Mkhatshwa said. But he urged them not to make their unanswered questions a reason to abandon their faith.
Meanwhile, family and friends remembered Tiyandza as a joyful person whose laughter and warmth left an impression on those around her.
Her sister, Tematfombeni Magagula recalled that on the day Tiyandza died, she had asked her not to prepare dinner because she would return home from work with a meal.
“She asked me not to cook as she would come back with dinner after work,” Magagula said.
Despite the painful loss, Magagula said her faith gave her hope, drawing comfort from the biblical assurance that Christians do not grieve like those without hope.
She said Tiyandza had left this earth after giving her a message that had changed how she viewed her own journey.
“My sister departed earth after giving me a message on where my journey should pass,” she said.
Magagula added that she wished the funeral could also be a service of repentance, reminding mourners that everyone would eventually face death and judgement.
Tiyandza’s friends remembered her for her infectious laughter and playful personality. One friend, who attended Manzini Nazarene High School with Tiyandza, recalled that she often sat next to the door and would sometimes help her with schoolwork.
“She would ask me on some days if I had written my homework and help me copy her work,” the friend recalled.
But it was Tiyandza’s laughter that stood out most.
“She loved laughing too much, to the point where I would ask what she was laughing at and she would say, ‘Because I am laughing,’” she said.
Her colleagues echoed the sentiment, describing Tiyandza as someone who brought joy wherever she went.
