But no one could have predicted the events that played out on the morning of 6 September.
Orapeleng Molelekdi and Tebog Motaung are heartbroken after losing their daughter and granddaughter. Photo: Adéle Bloem.
“Kopano was supposed to come visit us, but she never arrived. At about 8.30am I phoned her father to ask him where she was, and he told me that she should have been there by now.
“I did not believe him, and went to his house to look for her, but she was not there,” said a heartbroken Molelekedi.
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She said that, upon her return, a community member informed her that Kopano was hit by a vehicle when she tried to cross the road and, before anyone could do anything, the occupants of the vehicle got out, picked her up and said they would take her to the hospital.
“We immediately went to the police station and opened a missing person’s case. The detective told us to make sure Kopano was not at school and, if she was not there, we should phone him. I went to Durban Deep Primary, where she was a learner, but they told me that she was not there and I phoned the detective to inform him,” she said.
Molelekedi added that they spent the whole weekend visiting the police station and various hospitals, but to no avail.
“When my cousin visited Baragwanath Hospital on the Saturday afternoon, someone working at the hospital said he recognised the girl on the photo.
He told her that a body was brought in on Thursday afternoon, matching Kopano’s description. According to my cousin, he said that she was raped before her body was dumped,” she said.
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She explained that the body that had been found at Pennyville Park, near Noordgesig in Soweto, she positively identified as Kopano’s on the Monday morning.
“Kopano was always such a happy, friendly child who got along with everyone. She loved playing with the other children. She was a very intelligent child, and we had very high expectations of her. I cannot believe that someone could be so cruel and heartless to do something like this to a little girl,” said Molelekedi, swallowing hard to stop the tears.
The family will miss Kopano’s happy face and laughter the most. Molelekedi said, “I will miss her helpfulness; she was never scared to help me in the house, by either washing the dishes or sweeping the floor.
