Johannesburg - Hundreds of Kensington residents surrounded the fiancée and mother of slain teacher Zukisa Kela and watched as the women prayed and cried at the spot where he died.
Community members were taking part in a walk at Rhodes Park on Tuesday to show solidarity for two men who were murdered there on Saturday.
Kela, who was a teacher at Westbury Secondary School, his fiancée and another couple were attacked, and one of the women was raped. The men drowned after being tied up and thrown in the lake
.
Community police forum chairwoman Alison Roberts said they wanted people to use the park and take it out of the hands of criminals. She said she walks there every morning with her dog Timmy and would continue to do so.
Hundreds of people walked around the lake and stopped at the point where Kela and his friend were murdered. His fiancée, who many didn’t know would be there, stepped forward and stared at the spot where he drowned. She didn’t want to be identified.
She came with some church members, who said they were there to show solidarity with the men who died. “This is too terrible. How could those men have stood there and watched people drown? It’s sick,” a community member whispered as the young woman stared at the lake.
She walked back into the arms of the woman who would soon have been her mother-in-law.
Shilda McDonald, a Kensington woman, stepped forward, tears running down her face, and took the woman’s hands.
“¨We are crying today, Lord. We pray you give this woman back her dignity… But Lord, please, we know we must forgive, but we want these men to be found. We want them to pay for what they have done,” she said. McDonald went to Kela’s mother and prayed that she too would find strength.
The fiancée said she felt it was important to be there before she began to cry. Strangers came up and hugged her, telling her they loved her.
People sang hymns and the woman cried bitterly. She was led away as people watched, their faces grim. “We are a community that is shattered. We need to stand together and bring each other strength,” said ward councillor Carlos da Rocha.
Resident Gregg Daniels said he felt it was important to get more people involved. “I blame us as a community, we don’t do enough, we have stayed away from the park because of the crime,” he said.
No arrests have been made.
The Star
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