Durban - A Tongaat man went to a nearby shop and returned home to find his wife had been bludgeoned to death.
Idah Ngcobo, 63, was attacked and murdered in their home in Fairbreeze, Tongaat, on Monday morning.
Ngcobo was at home with her grandchildren and husband.
According to a family friend, Ngcobo’s husband went to a shop, leaving her alone, with her 2-year-old and teenaged granddaughters.
The teenager was outside hanging clothes on the washing line when she heard her gran screaming for help.
She ran into the house to find an unknown man attacking her grandmother, who was seated on a sofa in the lounge.
The family friend said the teenager grabbed the 2-year-old and ran to the neighbours, the Goges, for assistance.
Khulekani Goge said he heard a child screaming outside, calling for his son.
“The way this child was screaming, I could tell that something was wrong. I thought MaNgcobo had fallen and they needed assistance to lift her up. MaNgcobo had a stroke last month so she could not move around; she needed to be helped to walk or sit properly. We were very close to her and her husband.
“My wife rushed out to assist the child and she was the first at the scene and the one who called emergency services and the police. We are still in shock at this incident. MaNgcobo was the nicest person ever. We are her neighbours, but we are like family,” he said.
Goge’s wife, who would not be named, said she had never seen
so much blood or such terrible injuries.
Ngcobo’s attacker was gone by the time she arrived. It appeared he fled without taking anything.
One of Ngcobo’s four children, her son James, had few words to describe the pain he was in after his mother was murdered.
“I do not understand who would attack someone who cannot even fight for herself. She raised us with much difficulty, selling sweets and fruit at school. We were still enjoying spoiling her, as we are now all grown-up and independent. She was our strength and our everything; she raised us and raised our kids for us, and she never complained,” he said.
Police spokesperson Thembeka Mbhele said a case of murder was opened at Tongaat police station.
Ngcobo’s murder was the latest in a number of attacks on older persons in the country:
* In the Northern Cape, a 96-year-old woman died after being raped during
a robbery committed on November 1.
* A 50-year-old woman was stabbed and raped, while her gardener was held at gunpoint, on her farm, in Brits, in October.
* 77-year-old Bluff granny, Delores Ireland, was found murdered in her laundry room, in September this year.
* In August, an 84-year-old granny was stabbed to death with a screwdriver, in East London.
* Also in August, the body of 79-year-old Shirley James was found in her garage at Newlands East, Durban.
* A 67-year-old granny was murdered in KwaMashu, in June. Her body was found with her hands tied.
* A 107-year-old granny from Mpophomeni, near Howick, was murdered in her bed, in January last year.