A Grahamstown mother is still recovering from the shock of finding out about her daughter's brutal rape and murder, days after the girl's body was discovered near a toilet in someone's back yard.
A Grahamstown mother is still recovering from the shock of finding out about her daughter's brutal rape and murder, days after the girl's body was discovered near a toilet in someone's back yard.
While single mom Faniswa Centwa, 41, of Extension 8, looked forward to Christmas, happy in the thought that her daughter Zingisa, 18, would soon be following the career of her dreams, a gruesome scene unfolded just a few kilometres away.
Centwa said she had last seen her daughter early in the morning, on the Tuesday before Christmas. Zingisa told her she was going to fetch her money from the Rat and Parrot pub, where she'd started a holiday job the week before.
"I called her cellphone, but it was on voicemail,” Centwa said, tears rolling down her cheeks. When three days went by and she still hadn't heard from Zingisa, Centwa became worried. But on Christmas Eve, when she tried to file a missing person report, the police told Centwa to go and look for her daughter.
“We went to the hospital, and to the Rat and Parrot. We were told she had not shown up for work since Tuesday,” Centwa said.
Meanwhile, not far from the home of relatives with whom Zingisa had been staying, a Tantyi resident made a gruesome discovery in his own back yard. Police spokesperson Captain Mali Govender said when the man went to the toilet about 9pm on Wednesday 22 December, he saw someone lying on the ground, but didn't take any notice.
“He thought it was someone who was drunk,” said Govender. But when dawn broke the next morning, the man realised with horror that it was the body of a girl, and called the police.
“She had been sexually assaulted. She was wearing a white T-shirt and black-and-white jacket, and was barefoot,” Govender said.
It was the body of 18-year-old Zingisa Centwa, better known as Norotso, a matriculant at Nombulelo High School.
Centwa described her daughter as an honest person, who would always let her know where she was going. “She always reported to me, and she was not a troublemaker,” Centwa said.
“She liked her books and church, and she was very ambitious. I never heard a complaint from her teachers.” Centwa said she would remember her daughter as compassionate. “We are a very poor family. Our home leaks when it is raining and she would say, 'Don't worry, I'll get a job someday and I'll fix this home.'”
She said Zingisa had applied for admission at the Walter Sisulu University and wanted to become a social worker. Rat and Parrot co-owner Mynhardt Van Dyk said Zingisa had worked for them for a week. “She was very pleasant with other staff members, and they liked her,” said Van Dyk.
Zingisa was buried on Sunday, 2 January. Govender said no one had been arrested and the police were investigating a case of rape and murder.
