‘Senamile’s two-month-old son doesn’t deserve to grow up without his mother.’
The distraught mother of an 18-year-old rape and murder victim, Zanele Mhlongo (35) from the KwaNdaye Reserve outside eSikhaleni, is struggling to come to terms with the brutal death of her daughter Senamile Manqele, who was sexually assaulted, shot and dumped in nearby bushes.
On the a threshold of adulthood, Manqele’s life was snuffed out like a candle in a brutal double attack last Sunday.
Her body was recovered in a pine tree forest by her neighbour who entered the bushes to answer the call of nature.
According to her mother, Senamile had disappeared from her house at KwaMcebisi rental cottages several hours earlier.
The Grade 12 pupil at Dlamvuzo High School apparently went outside to do the washing at 5am.
‘She woke up early to finish the washing before I went to work. It was the last time I saw my daughter,’ said the tearful Zanele.
‘I called her boyfriend and friends, but no one knew where she was. A team was assembled to search for her, but she was nowhere to be seen.
‘Suddenly I felt so down, like something bad has happened. That’s when I received a message about a young girl found with a bullet wound to the head only 800 meters from our house,’ she said.
eSikhawini police promptly attended to the scene.
During the autopsy, it was determined that Senamile had been sexually assaulted before she was killed.
Her neigbours described her an intelligent young woman with a heart of gold.
‘She was a respectful person who loved her family, especially her son,’ they said.
Her schoolmates held a special memorial service at the school on Friday.
Empangeni SAPS spokesperson, Capt Mbongeni Mdlalose, asked the community to contact the eSikhawini police with any information about the incident.
Senamile was laid to rest in eSikhaleni on Saturday.
No arrest have yet been made.
