THE Herald’s correspondent in Plettenberg Bay, Khethile Azikiwe Thomas, has died following a short illness.

Thomas, 39, who moved to Plett from Uitenhage in 2003, was admitted to the Knysna Provincial Hospital last Wednesday with pneumonia. He died on Monday at noon.

“Khethile had flu a few weeks ago and never really recovered. Last Wednesday, he was struggling to breathe and the doctors said he had pneumonia and that his lungs were damaged,” his fiancée Vicki Mangqwengqwe said yesterday.

She said Thomas had had a restless night on Sunday but had been in good spirits on Monday morning when she visited him. He died about an hour after she left.

“It was so unexpected. I am so lonely without Khethile and don’t know how I am going to live without him.”

They had been together since 2005.

Thomas initiated a community tourism project in Plett involving tours to KwaNokuthula and was also the editor of Izwilase Bayana, a Xhosa newspaper. He was a member of the Vumaningoma choir and sat on the board of several charities.

Retaining his ties with Uitenhage, he recently finalised setting up a community paper – Bay Plus News and Living.

Thomas was involved in education and promoted cultural exchanges at every opportunity. He was one of the sponsors of Madiba’s Trees, a project to plant a small indigenous forest in the Qolweni squatter area. He also wrote for a number of community newspapers.

He was writing a memoir of his life and loved to tell how he survived a brutal “necklace” attempt on his life in his early 20s.

Thomas, who will be buried in Uitenhage, is survived by his mother Eunice, a brother and sister, and daughters Sine, 12, and Avuyile, five.