Still no closure for murdered student’s family

Seven years after Palesa Madiba disappeared and five years after her body was found in a shallow grave at her best friend’s home, the man accused of killing the 19-year-old is yet to stand trial and her family is unable to find closure.

“It is very painful … We have to keep going back to that dark hole,” Madiba’s aunt, Malesela Moshidi, said following yet another delay.

The trial of Madiba’s alleged killer and her best friend’s uncle, Dumisani Mkhwanazi, was scheduled to get underway in the South Gauteng High Court, in Johannesburg today but Mkhwanazi was a no-show.

This  on the back of a drawn out criminal investigation and after the case had to be postponed three times last year because Mkhwanazi did not have a lawyer in court.

No reason was provided for Mkhwanazi’s absence. He is, however, in custody at the moment and so the case was postponed until later this week for Mkhwanazi to be brought to court. It is then expected to be postponed at least once more, for a new judge to be appointed. No reason was yesterday provided for this, either.

Moshidi was among a large group of Madiba’s friends and family who attended the proceedings. She said each and every scheduled court date took a toll on the family.

“We want this to be done with, so that we get closure. We won’t forget Palesa, we will keep remembering her. We just want justice,” she said.

Moshidi said that regardless, they were willing to wait in the hope that Mkhwanazi would “tell the truth”.

“We just hope he finds it in him to be human enough to tell us the truth,” she said.

The family has been left with many unanswered questions, including Madiba’s cause of death. According to the indictment, this could not be determined by the time her body was discovered.

“We just want to find out what happened and get closure and then for him to get his punishment,” Moshidi said.

Moshidi said the family continued to keep Madiba’s memory alive.

“Recently, we got together and we were chatting about Palesa. She really was a lovely person. She was a lovely girl,” she said.

Madiba, A BCom student at the University of Johannesburg, was reported missing after spending a weekend with her best friend in August 2013. Her body was only discovered in December 2015 – reportedly after a neighbour spotted a hand sticking out the ground.

Mkhwanazi – who lived on the property, with his niece and her family – was only arrested last July. He made his first appearance before a court at the height of the #AmINext movement against gender-based violence.

During the same period, Johannesburg businesswoman Andy Kawa publicly asked President Cyril Ramaphosa to withdraw an appeal that had been launched by the Minister of Police after Kawa successfully sued him for the police’s failure to investigate her rape case.

The case was heard in the Supreme Court of Appeal yesterday.

Kawa’s lawyer, David Kapelus, yesterday morning said his client had not yet received a response from the President.

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