Johannesburg - The mother of Zandile Zinu, a University of Johannesburg fine-arts student at the Bunting Road campus, is pleading for her 20-year-old daughter’s safe return.
Speaking at her Liefde en Vrede home, south of Joburg, the mother Rachel Zinu said her child’s disappearance had left her family with many unanswered questions.
“Everything doesn’t make sense right now. But I am hoping that she is safe wherever she is and that she will come home,” she said.
Zandile was last seen on Monday at the Kingsway campus’s bus stop at about 9.30am waiting for her twin sister, who is also a student at UJ.
Zandile’s twin is studying towards a BCom degree in accounting at the Kingsway campus.
“Her sister told me that Zandile had told her that UJ wanted to change the type of person she was. This was after she was discouraged about a sculpture she had done in August,” Zinu said.
Everything seemed to change after that.
On Monday, Zandile failed to submit her art project and has another project to hand in a few weeks.
On Friday, the arts student was taken to a doctor after she complained of abdominal pain. The doctor ruled out stress and prescribed medication.
The next day, Zandile sent a friend a message saying the medication wasn’t working and she needed to see a psychologist.
“I knew she wasn’t happy, although she was passing. Her sister always encouraged her not to stress much, comparing their courses,” she said.
Officials at the university had indicated that Zandile’s student card was used to gain access to the arts and drama section of the Bunting Road campus, Rachel added.
“We are still waiting for information on how she left the campus, because we understand she didn’t attend any lectures (that day).”
Her daughter was doing well so far and passed her first semester with good marks. “She even got a part-time job at the campus’s art gallery,” Rachel added.
“I want her to come home. We live in times when violent crimes affect us all,” Zinu said.
University spokesman Herman Esterhuizen said they were aware of the report that one of its students was missing. He said the institution would investigate it.
Police spokeswoman Lorraine van Emmerik confirmed a missing person case was filed at Brixton police station.
The Star