CAPE TOWN - Yvette Lotter, the widow of Oudtshoorn man Morne Lotter, 42, one of two South Africans killed after an attack on a United Nations facility in Somalia on Wednesday, has described him as a "tremendous family man".
Lotter and his colleague Alan Simpson were among sixteen people killed, after the UN Development Programme camp in Mogadishu came under attack.
Yvette and her two children, Ulrich, 15, and Irma, 12, were alerted to his death by Denel on Wednesday afternoon.
His wife said Lotter, who was born in George, worked as a fireman at the South End fire station in Port Elizabeth until 1995, before he joined the South African National Defence Force, based at the Oudtshoorn infantry school.
She said he joined Denel's humanitarian demining operations, Mechem, six years ago, where he provided camp management services to the UN operations in the region.
"We are obviously very shocked. We were alerted to his death yesterday [Wednesday] afternoon, after they had identified the bodies in Somalia," she said.
"Morne had been in Somalia for three years. He worked three months in Somalia, and then visited us for three weeks before going back. He was a tremendous family man, and loved his children."
Yvette described her late husband as "tough, like all the [South African] guys who work in these jobs overseas".
"We always knew there was a threat in a dangerous country like Somalia. It had become a bit more stable, but the rebels were always there on the outskirts of town."
A former colleague Wayne Stock said he worked with Lotter at the South End fire station in Port Elizabeth.
"Morne was an excellent firefighter before he joined the South African National Defence Force years ago," Stock said.
"He was a very dedicated man who everyone respected."
Denel group chief executive Riaz Saloojee said the company would do everything possible to help the families and would repatriate their bodies as soon as possible.
Source: Eyewitness News
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South African Man killed in Mogadishu's UN compound explossion name
CAPE TOWN - Yvette Lotter, the widow of Oudtshoorn man Morne Lotter, 42, one of two South Africans killed after an attack on a United Nations facility in Somalia on Wednesday, has described him as a "tremendous family man".