Untimely passing of our high school receptionist - Margaret Nyembe

06 May 2022

Dear St Martin’s Community,

It is with great sadness that I need to inform you of the untimely passing of our high school receptionist, MARGARET NYEMBE in the early hours of this morning.

Thembi, as she was fondly known, started working at St Martin’s School in January 1992 as a domestic worker in the library. With the help of our teachers, she completed her Matric during that time.

In February 2007 she was appointed as our school receptionist. Many pupils and, indeed their parents, used to have long conversations with Mama Thembi and she gently counselled many children through their teenage years. They shared their stories with her, and she would humbly offer them motherly advice.

She had an uncanny ability to make strangers feel at home from the minute they set foot in her reception, and we received many affirming comments from visitors to our school. She thought of St Martin’s as her second home and was incredibly proud of the role she played at the school.

Mama Thembi was a peacemaker and even when she was feeling down, she would always give you a smile or a word of encouragement.

And then she always had a song on her lips. I would often walk into reception, and she would be quietly singing. Oh, how that lit up my day! I remember telling her cula futhi sisi!

We would like to extend our sincere condolences to her family and will make available the details of her funeral as soon as we receive them.

Thirty years of faithful service to St Martin’s! We are grateful to have known her and we are grateful to her for all she did at our school. May her soul rest in peace and rise in glory!

Best wishes
Thomas Hagspihl
Headmaster