LAST year Ruhepo Shighongo got up at 07h00 to fetch water from the Okavango River before going to work.
She never returned. Shighongo (30) was killed by a crocodile at Rudhiva village, north of Divundu, in the Kavango East region.
Her sister Febronia (33) recalls the day neighbours, who had been at the river, arrived to tell her Shighongo was attacked by a crocodile.
“When we arrived at the river, a crocodile was holding my sister up in its mouth, taking her to an island in the river. I could see she was dead,” Febronia says.
She says her sister was employed at a nearby supermarket and was the family's breadwinner. She left two children behind.
Despite officials from the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism taking the family's details with the aim of providing them some form of compensation for their loss, Febronia says they haven't received a cent.