Durban - “There are no words to console this woman. All I can say is that I know nothing can make the pain better right now, I know this pain.”
So said the mother of slain 10-year-old Siphumelele Mzimba, whose decomposing body was recently discovered in Pinetown.
She was referring to another mother who found the body of her daughter, Sinegugu Dlamini, 13, on Tuesday.
The girl had been missing in the Pietermaritzburg area since Sunday.
Mzimba’s mother, Nosipho, said after her daughter’s murder there was a lot of support from her community.
“Despite support, words of comfort - the pain is still there. All I can say to this woman is that our pain is the same we are in the same boat.
“I counted myself lucky to have at least found Siphumelele’s body. This mother should look at her situation this way as well,” said Mzimba.
Zandile Nsele, 39, known to Siphumelele and her parents, was arrested two days after her disappearance and this week abandoned her bail application in the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court.
Siphumelele will be buried on Saturday, the same day as Sinegugu.
Yesterday at the Pietermaritzburg Magistrate’s Court a 20-year-old man made his first appearance for the murder of Sinegugu.
NPA spokesperson in the province Natasha Kara said the matter was adjourned to Monday for bail investigation.
The teen’s uncle, Jabulani Dlamini, said they believed Sinegugu was snatched from where she had been playing in her yard at the Jika Joe informal settlement by the suspect, who he said was out on parole.
He said the family always kept a close eye on the teen because she was a special-needs pupil. But when she was not seen by 2pm, a search began for her.
“The arrested man and the brother he lived with were searching with us. The police came that evening and we begged them to come back with dogs to comb the informal settlement.
“One search and rescue officer came with one dog early on Monday, but we didn’t find her. He returned four hours later and searched again, even by the river where she was found, but still we didn’t find her,” Dlamini said.
It was only on Tuesday morning when the teen’s mother, Phumeza Dlamini, went to a river where the community disposed of their rubbish that she discovered Sinegugu’s body, naked from the waist down, on a pile of garbage.
“After that, one of the community members said she had noticed one shack that had always been padlocked while they were searching for Sinegugu, but on Tuesday the padlock was just hanging on the door. It was the shack belonging to the two brothers,” he said.
Dlamini said inside the shack they saw blood and an item of Sinegugu’s clothing.
He said the community searched for the two men, but only managed to track down one. Two people died while searching near the river after being electrocuted by illegal electricity connections.
Police spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbhele said further arrests would be made if investigations led police to another suspect.