Johannesburg - For the past 22 years, Portia Zondi dedicated her life to ensuring that her only child had a decent life and a good education, hoping he would one day become a successful accountant and businessman.
But she has been left grief-stricken after her son, Zakhele, was murdered while on his way to study at the University of Johannesburg’s Soweto campus. He was killed on July 12, in what is believed to have been a robbery.
Now the family are appealing to the police to patrol the road to ensure that more students and other people don’t meet the same fate as Zakhele.
“I worked hard to make sure my son got the education I never got. Someone then decides to kill him for two cellphones and an iPad. It was just not worth it. I want the police to increase their visibility around that area,” Zondi, 46, said on Sunday.
Zakhele isn’t the first UJ student to disappear, or be killed, in mysterious circumstances.
Two years ago, a UJ student at the Kingsway campus in Auckland Park was tied up and forced into the boot of her car. Her attackers drove to an ATM where they forced her to withdraw money from her account.
Also two years ago, another UJ student, Palesa Madiba, went missing after leaving her friend’s house in Soweto, where she had spent the weekend. The police have still not been able to trace her.
Zakhele’s family are devastated by his murder. There is a stream and thick bushes on the stretch of narrow road along Chris Hani Road, where the family believe he was found. The path links Klipspruit to the nearby Bara Mall, taxi rank and UJ, and residents, including students, use it as a thoroughfare to their destinations, often late at night or in the early hours.
People who work at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital also use it to get to and from work.It is also a main road used by bus and taxi commuters.
“My child is dead but other children and people who use that road daily are also in danger,” Zondi pointed out.
Zakhele was killed while on his way to join a study group. The teenager had apparently got a lift from a friend who dropped him off near the Grace Bible Church, less than 3km from the UJ campus, according to his uncle Dumisani, with whom he lived in Diepkloof.
The uncle said he had agreed with Zakhele that he would wake him up early so that they could attend a family event together in Alexandra, where his mother lives.
“In the morning, I decided not to wake him up, but ran errands first. When I came back and he wasn’t in his bedroom, I thought he went to see his friends. When he never returned, I called him, but both his cellphones were off. That was very strange because he never switches off his phones,” Dumisani said.
“When I got to Alexandra, the rest of the family were also looking for him. After the event, I came back to Soweto and decided to go to Bara and ask if there were injured people who had not been identified. They told me there was one critically injured person.”
Zakhele’s father, Ronald Madonsela, positively identified him.
“He (Madonsela) called me, crying, and said Zakhele was unconscious. The paramedics said they found him between UJ and Klipspruit naked at about 2am and took him to hospital. We don’t know if he was attacked while going to campus or on his way back,” Dumisani said.
After two weeks, the teenager died. According to the post-mortem results, Zakhele was hit with a blunt object on the head and suffered severe head injuries, which included intracranial bleeding.
Police spokeswoman Captain Phephi Matlou-Mteto said no arrest had been made in connection with the crime.
“There are no suspects and police are busy with investigations,” she said.
Matlou-Mteto added they were trying to increase police visibility in the township
.
Zakhele’s mother sobbed as she told of her grief at her son’s brutal murder on Sunday.
For years, she saved from her meagre salary as a receptionist at a hospital to ensure Zakhele attended the best schools and eventually went to university.
She thought her dream had come true when Zakhele was admitted to study at UJ last year.
“He never cared about partying. His passion was his school work, the gym and breeding pitbulls. People knew he loved dogs, and if they were sick they would bring them to Zakhele and he would help them,” she said.
The Star