A 26-year-old woman was stabbed to death by an unidentified man in Norkem Park on Saturday night.
The woman, Koketso Mawasha, was walking home with her cousin Kgomotso Sephoka (23) at around 8.30pm when the man, coming from a nearby veld, approached them, asking to speak to them.
“He asked to speak to us but when we said no, he started chasing after us with a knife,” Kgomotso remembers.
“I managed to get away but he got hold of Koketso, who had run towards a neighbour’s gate trying to open it.”
Koketso struggled to get the gate open and before she could, the man had already grabbed her, after which he stabbed her five times.
In the meantime, Kgomotso managed to stop a car that was passing by but by that time it was too late because the suspect had already fled into the veld. The man who had stopped to help desperately called for help, first by alerting an ambulance and then the police.
“We then phoned my aunt, Koketso’s mother, who was at home a few houses from where the incident happened. I then phoned my Koketso’s father, who was in Tembisa at the time.
“By the time he arrived at the scene, which was even before the ambulance or the police had got there, he found his daughter lying on the street.
“Even though I could already tell my daughter had left us, I still didn’t give up on her. I still had hope that she would still be alive,” George Mawasha said. They drove their daughter to Arwyp but unfortunately it was too late. Kgomotso was declared dead at around 9pm.
A case of murder had been opened with Norkem Park SAPS, who is investigating the matter. It is still unknown what the motive of the suspect was, as he didn’t steal anything from the girls.
“The family is still confused about this whole incident. It just doesn’t make any sense why he would do something like this. It would be more understandable if he had taken Koketso’s cell phone for example but he didn’t. We still have her cell phone with us,” a family member commented.
What also hurts the most is that it is a mystery who would want to hurt someone like Koketso. Her cousin described her as someone who was friendly, loving and loved by everyone.
“Koketso was everybody’s friend. She was very sweet but also a bit stern and didn’t take any nonsense from anyone. She was always honest with people and told them how she felt, even if they didn’t like it,” the cousin said.
Kgomotso was in too much of a panic to notice what the attacker looked like. She just recalled he was wearing a white golf t-shirt, was young, probably in his late teens or very early 20s, and was of medium to tall height.
Koketso attended Norkem High School and went on to study business administration at Unisa, for which she graduated in 2012. She had just started a new job in November.
Mawasha said of his daughter: “Just like me, she loved talking. She had many friends and loved them all.”
She will be buried in her home province Limpopo on Saturday.
