Bongi Kunju, the founder of the renowned Coffee Bay Cultural Festival (COCUFE), was found dead in her home in Mqanduli, Mthatha, Eastern Cape.
COCUFE Founder Bongi Kunju Found Dead
Her daughter, Mihle Kunju discovered her deceased in her garage yesterday morning. She was 47.
Mihle announced the news on Facebook:
“Good afternoon everyone this is mihle, Bongi’s daughter. I just wanted to inform you that my mother has passed away.”
Mihle recounted to Zimoja finding her mother’s lifeless body in the garage:
“The house was awfully quiet and I was wondering why. I decided to check on her in her room to see if she was up and she wasn’t there. I went to the garage to check if maybe she had left the house. She’s usually there if she’s not in her room.
“I went to the garage and attempted to open the door but I felt something was blocking the door and when I peeped a little, through the door, my mom was on the floor.”
Despite calling out to her mother multiple times, Mihle received no response.
“She didn’t respond. I then slid through the garage door and attempted to wake her up but she didn’t wake up,” she said. I suspect that she hit her head on the wall and then collapsed. But I don’t know. I called my brother because it was only the three of us in the house, we then flipped her over and we saw her bleeding through her nose.”
Bongi’s hands and feet had turned cold and purple hands.
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Bongi Kunju’s Mental Health Battle
Mihle disclosed that her mother had been battling depression, attributing it to stress.
“She was a very loving and caring mom. She had a lot of stress which caused her to be depressed. Some people owed her money but they didn’t give it back, to the point where she got too stressed and started having depression.
“During the times when she had depression, she started talking to herself, which worried me and my brother. This went on for weeks to the point where we got distracted at school. She always put us as her kids first- we were her number one priority.”