“We have not made any funeral arrangements yet. We are still waiting for the postmortem results. But we don’t know where to start.”
This is how grief-stricken Chithiwe Mona summed up her pain.
The 59-year-old mother now appeals for public assistance in burying her 18-year-old daughter Sikelelwa.
The cause of her death is unknown, but her body was discovered a few metres from her home in Taiwan informal settlement, Site C. She was alleged to have been raped and killed.
A heartbroken Mona said her daughter had big dreams and wanted to improve the family’s living conditions.
“I want justice to prevail for my daughter. I was expecting a lot from my child. She had big dreams of transforming her family to be better. She was passionate about education. She wanted to be a professional nurse.”
Mona said the family doesn’t know where to start, for they would love to bury Sikelelwa in Sterkspruit, Eastern Cape. She described her daughter as a lovely person who laughed a lot.
Ward 87 councillor Khayalethu Kama described Taiwan as an area severely affected by gender-based violence (GBV) and regarded himself as the most unfortunate councillor. Since 2021, he said, the ward experienced many serious incidents.
“Three months ago, there was a case of a 13-year-old girl who was brutally killed. She was raped and killed. A week after that there were more than 20 women who were sexually assaulted by young boys in a church.
“After that there was another woman who was killed by her boyfriend. And there are many other incidents that occurred in the area.”
Kama said numerous awareness initiatives were held to curb crime. He said he intended to mobilise all the community stakeholders to discuss all the “pressing issues” in the ward.
The provincial police spokesperson W/O Joseph Swartbooi stated Khayelitsha police officers attended to a complaint on Saturday 8 July and on arrival they found a body of an unknown woman.
“The victim was declared deceased on the scene by medical personnel, he said. “We can confirm a male was arrested on Friday 14 July and charged with rape.”
Eric Ntabazalila, provincial spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), said the accused appeared in the Khayelitsha Magistrates’ Court on Monday 17 July. The case was postponed to Thursday 3 August.