Father seeks answers after daughter’s ‘ritual murder’ in Cape Town township

A distraught father is desperately looking for answers after his daughter, a medical doctor, was mysteriously murdered in a Cape Town township and her body taken away by a private undertaker without police forensic pathologists viewing it.

But the Khayelitsha police and Tygerberg Hospital forensic pathology section are investigating the circumstance surrounding the death of Dr Bongisa Grey, 35.

Western Cape police spokesperson Brigadier Novela Potelwa confirmed the Khayelitsha police had registered an inquest into the death of a 35-year-old woman in Site B on 6 October, saying an inquest case has been opened.

According to the father, Bonisile Grey, 66, who is based in Macleantown outside East London in the Eastern Cape, the cause of her death was unknown, but they suspected a ritual murder.

Altercation with landlady’s relative

It is at this stage unclear where and how the killing actually happened, but it’s understood from Bongisa’s brother, Bonile, that the young doctor got into an altercation with a relative of her landlady.

“I suspect foul play and I need evidence in that inquest.

“She is not in a state mortuary as we speak about the killing that took place on 6 October and no postmortem has been conducted since then.

“My daughter was sacrificed in a ritual killing,” Grey said.

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The father said Bongisa’s suspected killers were still at large.

Grey said he was mystified that his daughter died in a township when she had never lived before.

He had asked the Cape police to investigate the killing and had also approached Prof Thuli Madonsela, former public protector and director of the Centre for Social Justice at Stellenbosch University, who offered to help the family resolve the matter.

Madonsela has maintained continuous communication with the family.

‘Grief doesn’t have a timeline’

“I want you to know that I’m here for you during this incredibly difficult time.

“Remember that I’m here for you, not just now but in the days, weeks and months to come,” Madonsela told Grey in a WhatsApp message on Thursday.

“Grief doesn’t have (a) timeline and I’ll continue to check on you.”