“She Is My Big Sister,” Cee Cee Ndaba Mourns A Gender Based Violence Victim
“She Is My Big Sister,” Cee Cee Ndaba Mourns A Gender Based Violence Victim. To many people out there, these are just gender based victims, but to others they are mothers, daughters, sisters and loved ones. One person affected directly by these murder incidents is Cee Cee Ndaba. The award winning actress and producer lost a loved one a month ago. The victim’slife was taken by her then boyfriend.
“One month ago, our hearts shattered as we received the news that our beloved Thando had been murdered by her then boyfriend.
A life taken. A family changed forever.
There is another layer to our grief that is difficult to put into words; we may never have the answers we so desperately want because shortly afterwards, he took his own life. There is no conversation to be had. No explanation to hear. No opportunity for accountability. Just an unbearable absence and questions we will carry with us.
I love you, big sis. ❤️
You did not deserve this.
Your daughter did not deserve this.
None of us deserved to lose you this way.
And today, my grief for Thando sits alongside an anger and heartbreak that extends far beyond my own family.
Right now, South Africa is once again confronting the horror of women’s bodies being found across the country at an increasing rate. Whether these murders are connected or not, they speak to something we already know too intimately; women in this country are dying at the hands of violence.
Behind every headline and every statistic is a person. A woman with a name. Someone’s daughter. Someone’s sister. Someone’s friend. Someone’s mother. Someone who had plans for next week, next year and the rest of her life.
We deserve to live.
We deserve to love without fear.
We deserve to leave relationships and still live.
We deserve to run, walk, work, raise our children and simply exist without our safety constantly being negotiated.
Between April and June 2026 alone, 569 women were murdered in South Africa.
Thando is not a statistic to us.
She is laughter we remember.
She is memories we cannot recreate.
She is a mother whose daughter should still be able to reach for her.
She is my big sister.
Thando Chriselda Gonya. I will say your name. I will remember you for the fullness of the woman you were and not only for the violence that took you from us.
Rest peacefully, big sis.
You were loved. You are loved. And you will never be forgotten. ❤️,” Cee Cee said.
