Trauma and despair have gripped Siyabonga Ngcobo’s mother and grandmother as they eagerly await the results of DNA tests on his burnt remains before laying their loved one to rest.
This comes as Roads and Transport MEC Ismail Vadi yesterday slammed some of the actions of the province’s metered-taxi industry as “barbaric”, and threatening to shut down its operations should “criminals” continue to penetrate the industry.
Last week, 21-year-old Ngcobo, who was a fourth-year Tshwane University of Technology student and had only recently become a Taxify driver, was found burnt inside the boot of a Chevrolet Aveo in Sunnyside, Pretoria.
Speculation is rife that rogue metered-taxi drivers had carried out the brutal killing, although this has been denied by the industry’s provincial association.
On Wednesday, Ngcobo’s aunt Nobuhle Mbonambi detailed the harrowing pain that her older sister was going through since the horrific death of her son.
Mbonambi said Ngcobo’s mother had arrived at her Centurion home on Friday, where the student had been staying with his aunt since 2014.
“She is not doing very great. I don’t even have the right words to describe her - she is just in pain. Losing your child is not an easy thing.
“So, she is literally going through a really bad time. It’s terrible. My mother, Siya’s grandmother, is also not in a good space,” the distraught aunt told The Star.
Ngcobo’s 67-year-old grandmother has returned to the family home in Inanda, KwaZulu-Natal, and would await the rest of the family to return with Ngcobo’s remains for burial.
“I’m not sure when they are going to release his body. His body is still being kept at the government place in Pretoria because they want to do DNA testing and prove that it is indeed him.
“Only when we get his body, will we be able to plan his funeral,” Mbonambi said.
She said Ngcobo’s mother, as well as the student’s paternal uncles, were granted the opportunity to view the remains, which was a distressing experience.
Mbonambi said the counselling and the outpouring of support that Ngcobo’s mother and grandmother had received from family and the public had gone a long way towards healing the wounds of their loss.
“But seeing justice being done is what will actually assist them to deal with this whole ordeal.
"Justice would be for the people who murdered him to go to jail.
“But justice would also be to create awareness to all the young people out there who have an ambition to know and be cautious about things they get themselves into,” Mbonambi said.
MEC of Community Safety Sizakele Nkosi-Malobane described Ngcobo’s death as a “tragic incident” and vowed that law enforcement agencies were “working around the clock to ensure that the perpetrators of this inhumane act are brought to book”.
Meanwhile, Vadi called on the province’s metered-taxi industry to join hands with the government to root out criminal elements in the sector.
Although Vadi acknowledged there was no evidence that metered-taxi drivers were involved in the horrific incident, he threatened to shutdown the industry should a metered-taxi driver be implicated in this ordeal.
“We can’t carry on like this - we can’t have barbaric behaviour becoming the new norm to resolve what is basically a business dispute,” Vadi said.
Gauteng Metered Taxi Council general secretary Hendrick Ndou said it was unconfirmed that any of its members were involved in Ngcobo’s attack, however, acknowledged that criminals had infiltrated the conflict between their members and and the ehailing Uber and Taxify drivers.
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