Murdered kids' mothers angered by Zuma's visit

Mothers of children who were murdered on the Cape Flats are outraged after President Jacob Zuma offered a house and R10 000 to Courtney Pieters's mom. Picture : Phando Jikelo

Mothers of children who were murdered on the Cape Flats are outraged after President Jacob Zuma offered a house and R10 000 to Courtney Pieters's mom. Picture : Phando Jikelo

Published May 24, 2017

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Cape Town – “What about us?” ask the mothers of two children who were murdered on the Cape Flats after President Jacob Zuma offered a house and R10 000 to the mom of Courtney Pieters.

The three-year-old girl was found raped and murdered earlier this month, prompting a visit from Zuma to the family at their Elsies River home last week.

The president said he was shocked at the brutality of Courtney’s murder, and gave the family R10 000 in cash, and promised them a house, donated by his foundation.

Mortimer Saunders, 40, a friend of the family who boarded with them, has been arrested for Courtney’s murder.

Zuma’s generous gifts sparked an outcry on the Cape Flats, with many accusing the president of using his visit to score political points.

A deeply disappointed Shaakirah Hardien, whose son Rafique, five, was murdered 13 years ago, contacted the Daily Voice this week to ask why the president never came to visit her.

Shaakirah Hardien, mother of murdered Rafique questioned Zuma's selectivity. Picture: Jack Lestrade

Rafique went missing on 4 August 2004 while playing outside a neighbour’s home in Niger Street, Portland, Mitchells Plain.

Seventeen days later, his decomposing body was found, wrapped in a plastic bag, on a field at the Westridge Swimming Pool.

Three years later, Shaakirah’s neighbour Richard Junior Engelbrecht was arrested for the murder of his girlfriend’s daughter, Annestacia Wiese, 11, whose body was found hidden in the ceiling of her home in Children’s Way, Westridge, in March 2007.

Engelbrecht claimed to cops that he had “found” Rafique’s dead body in the living room, “after a coffee table had fallen onto the child”.

But instead of calling the police, he put the boy’s body in a tog bag and later dumped it.

He told cops he had panicked because he was afraid he would be blamed for Rafique’s “accidental” death.

In 2012, Advocate Rodney de Kock, the Directorate of Public Prosecutions said there was not enough evidence to prosecute Engelbrecht for Rafique’s murder.

Engelbrecht is currently serving two life terms for the rape and murder of Annestacia.

A broken Shaakirah says she has to live with the knowledge that her son’s killer was never brought to book.

“Zuma said he was going to look into the three-year-old’s matter, but why can’t he come to all of us; we are all victims?” she asks.

“I also need justice, I also need closure. If it’s given to one, it should be given to all the victims who lost a child.”

The mom-of-two was evicted from her home in Portland and has moved eight times since her son’s murder.

Samantha Daniels, 32, the mother of Zinadene Pelton, 14, who was shot and killed in gang crossfire while walking home from school in Hanover Park in March, feels the same way.

Samantha Daniels, 32, argues that her son’s death could not be prevented. Picture: Jack Lestrade

She is also mother to Zaidene, eight, and Zeah-Lee, two.

Zaidene was born deaf and is currently on a waiting list at Red Cross Children’s Hospital for a cochlear implant which costs R350 000.

A bitter Samantha says unlike Courtney, her son’s death could not be prevented.

“Even her mother said she left that child alone with a seven-year-old,” Samantha says.

“All of us are mourning...”

“What about us? Not once did Zuma come and offer his condolences to us."

“When there are gunshots, my daughter cannot hear it, we have to signal to her in sign language to run for her life."

“Why doesn’t the government sponsor things like this?”

Daily Voice

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