Joyce Zulu was the third member of staff I ever hired and given that the second member of staff was only with me for a temporary period of 2 months Joyce was, until her death in November, was my longest ever employee.  She used to be a cleaner in the Constantia Centre, the building where my firm first started and she became a filing lady in my firm.  Her role expanded through the years and she eventually helped us with consulting with clients, often playing the role of almost a translator and eventually took on an all purposes administrative and secretarial role.  She was with my firm for 25 years and she was somebody I could rely on.  When she suddenly did not turn up at work for about 2 weeks in a row in November my wife said to me she must be seriously ill or dying, because that it was not in Joyce’s nature to simply disappear.  Joyce had even taken the trouble to write to my wife when my wife lived in Russia and she was a compassionate woman who displayed considerable empathy towards our clients. 

I am very sad that she has passed away and it has been difficult to ascertain how she passed away, but I know that she was immune compromised and it may well be that Covid-19 played a role in her death.  Rest in peace Joyce, I am shocked that you have gone so soon. Thank you for the 25 years that you spent with our firm and I do hope that your family are better off because of the time you spent with the firm -and thank you for your loyalty and dedication to me for all of those years.