Cape Town - The family of 17-year-old Amahle Quku from Philippi are struggling to make sense of her death and the "horrific" scene of her bruised and naked body.
Quku's body was found early on Saturday by residents in Albert Luthuli Street in Browns Farm. Her clothes were ripped off and stones were seen next to her body.
According to her distraught mother, Mandulele Quku, the family found out about her death after her "bruised" pictures trended on Facebook.
Mandulele said Amahle was not a problematic child, "she would do her home chores and then go to visit her friends".
"On Saturday morning her brother showed me her naked picture that was doing the rounds on Facebook, with people sending their condolences," Mandulele said.
Amahle Quku
She said after she saw the picture, she went to search for her at her boyfriend's house. When she arrived there she found the boyfriend's mother.
"I asked her and she said she last saw Amahle on Friday and the boyfriend was at the shop at the time."
Mandulele went back home. "I couldn't rest," she said, and decided to go to the police station, and the police told them what they had found.
Police spokesperson Colonel Andrè Traut said the circumstances surrounding the death of the 17-year-old were being investigated by Nyanga police after her naked body was discovered in Albert Luthuli Street in Browns Farm yesterday morning at around 7am.
Traut said the exact cause of her death was yet to be determined. "Our investigation lead to the arrest of a man in his twenties who is detained for questioning regarding the murder."
He said the investigation was still underway and further details could not be disclosed at this stage.
After interacting with the family, South African Youth Council Provincial Secretary Zuko Mndayi said: "We appeal to anyone who is able to assist as the mother's business had barely recovered from the impacts of Covid-19."
Mndayi called on the police to thoroughly investigate the matter and provide psychological relief for the family, "as outlined in the Ministerial Six Point Plan against Gender-Based Violence".
He added: "We call on the case to be taken away from Nyanga Police Station as it is overwhelmed by crime generally happening in its vicinity."