Ninzi Vili Mokgoatsane, maiden name Abigail Agatha Ninzi Vili, was born in Theko Springs, Eastern Cape, South Africa on March 30, 1942 to Evelyn Nonkululeko Ntantala Vili and Upington James Vili. Ninzi was later adopted by her aunt Dr. Phyllis P. Ntantala-Jordan and uncle, Dr. A. C. Jordan, after the untimely death of her mother.
Ninzi received her early education at St Marks E.C. School and Livingstone High School, Cape Town, South Africa. She began her post-secondary education at Baragwanath Nursing School in Soweto township, Johannesburg, South Africa. Fearing possible arrest after one of her uncles was detained, Ninzi left ApartheidSouth Africa in 1963, traveled through Botswana and the Congo and eventually arrived in Nigeria where she lived with her Aunt, Nosithe Ntantala Singaphi. From the University of Ife she applied for and was granted a U.S. State Department scholarship to study in the United States. Resuming her studies, Ninzi matriculated at the University of Rochester, Rochester, New York and later earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from South Hampton College of Long Island University in Long Island, New York. In 1971 she received her New York State Teacher’s License. She received a M.S.W. in Policy, Planning and Administration from Atlanta University School of Social Work degree from Atlanta University, in Atlanta, Georgia in 1980.
Ninzi spent her adult life as a political refugee from apartheid South Africa. During the 1970s she moved between Norway and the United States, finally settling in New York during the 1980s. She had affiliated to the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania after her arrival in the US undertaking many of the political tasks that movement assigned with regard to solidarity work. Unlike others, she chose not to return home to South Africa after April 1994 although her academic qualifications would have opened numerous opportunities for her.
Ninzi will be remembered for her grace, deportment and quiet dignity. She was an extremely loyal person, who, once a friendship had been established, she spent all her efforts to conserve it. Though she did not pursue these into adulthood, her capacity for hard work and dexterity in the kitchen and as a seamstress were legendary. Ninzi will always be remembered as gentle and caring woman with a fantastic sense of grace.
Ninzi was predeceased by her birth parents, Evelyn Nonkululeko Ntantala Vili (1946) and Upington James Vili; her adoptive parents (as well as her aunt and uncle): Phyllis Ntantala Jordan (2016) and A. C. Jordan (1968); her husband: Joseph Mokgoatsane; her siblings: Pasche Nomhle Vili (1943), Valencia Greta Ndileka Vili (1997), Brockdale Burbeck Ngcinindawo Vili (1991), Benedict Mthetheli Vili (2015), Nandipha Jordan (1971) and Lindi Jordan (2013).
Ninzi is survived by two daughters, Thulisile Mary Ofuma Babajide, and the Reverend Margaret Williams Walker, Esq. (John); six grandchildren: Oluniyi, Olushina, Akinsile, Nala, Faith and Grace; a brother, Zweledinga Pallo Jordan; two nieces, Samantha Lee Jordan and Nandipha Esther Jordan- Fitzpatrick, Esq. (Steven), one grand-niece, Lana Phyllis Fitzpatrick, and an extended family of maternal aunts, uncles and friends in South Africa.
Homegoing Celebration for Ninzi will be held Thursday, June 29, 2017 at 11 a.m. at St. James Missionary Baptist Church, 45 Daly Ave., New Britain, CT with the Rev. Dr. John W. Walker, Pastor, presiding. Burial will be private. Relatives and friends may call at St. James Missionary Baptist Church, Thursday from 10 a.m. – 11 a.m. Service of comfort provided by the Paul A. Shaker Funeral Home, 764 Farmington Ave., New Britain, CT. To extend condolences to the Mokgoatsane family or to share a memory of Ninzi, please visit shakerfuneralhome.com.
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