Family discovers devastating truth about Stellenbosch woman’s hidden life after her sudden death
Stephanie's cousin, Yolanda, said the family was battling to come to terms with what had happened.
Image: SUPPLIED
Lena Segals from Stellenbosch was proud when her foster daughter, 29-year-old Stephanie Segals, announced she was heading to Johannesburg for a new job.
However, a year later, Lena was devastated to discover that Stephanie had never reached Johannesburg; instead, she had travelled to Gqeberha.
There, about 700km from Stellenbosch, she settled in with a man she had met on TikTok, married him, gave birth to a baby girl six weeks ago, and died just nine days later.
Stephanie, affectionately known as Steffie, died of natural causes, according to her death certificate seen by IOL.
Adding to their shock, her family said they could not even attend her funeral because she had converted to Islam after marrying her husband.
Nelson Mandela Bay's Muslim Burial Society chair, Nazier Jobson, said under Islamic custom, she had to be buried the same day.
"We can confirm she was buried on April 15," he said.
"Her Muslim name is Saffa Naidoo."
And now, besides grieving her dead foster daughter and searching for answers, Segals, 65, is also on a desperate quest to find her newborn granddaughter, Aadilah.
Stephanie's cousin, Yolanda, said the family was battling to come to terms with what had happened.
She said Stephanie, who used to work at a Spar in Stellenbosch, left on July 1, 2025.
"Since then, we were under the impression she first visited a guy she was seeing in Franschhoek and that she then went to Johannesburg," Yolanda, a schoolteacher, said.
"We were in contact with her on WhatsApp the whole time, and she sent a lot of voice notes too.
"But we could never call her."
Yolanda said everything changed when they were contacted on April 15 this year by one Abdul Bilal Naidoo.
Naidoo allegedly told the family on that day that he was her husband, that she had given birth six days earlier, and that she had died.
He also said she had been staying in Gqeberha for the past 11 months.
"We first thought it was a sick joke," she said.
"But it was not a sick joke.
She said Stephanie had appeared on Laat die Potte Prut, a cooking and lifestyle show on the Afrikaans channel VIA.
She also appeared on the TV game show Better Assie Bure.
Yolanda said she felt like "Nancy Drew".
"Nancy Drew" is a fictional teenage detective from the long-running American book series and TV adaptations, known for investigating and solving mysteries.
"We are really trying to make sense of it all," Yolanda said.