“My daughter didn’t deserve this.” These were the words of Senzekile Maphalala, mother of slain Lusanda Mathabela (19), during her funeral service at Alliance Church in KaNyamazane on Saturday, November 8.

Mathabela was killed at her home in Matsafeni on Monday, November 3. “She was probably sleeping or maybe on her phone.” Maphalala said people think that she is strong, but she is struggling to cry because she is angry. “I feel like I disappointed her, because when a child cries for help, it is a parent’s duty to run to the rescue,” she explained.

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Maphalala said her daughter wanted more from life, and wanted to study in Canada. Gugu Nyarenda read a letter by Lusanda’s father, Given Mathabela. He wrote that he too felt like he had failed his daughter.

“There’s no parent that deserves to bury their child.”
He wrote that he had given the letter a lot of thought and he didn’t know how to say goodbye to his daughter.

“You were not sick, bafo, you were full of life. I left you in the morning, alive and well, but now all I do is cry,” he expressed.

“I don’t know how to live in this world that doesn’t have you, Lusanda. You made a promise to me, you said you will go overseas to study to be a teacher. What happened to those dreams, Lulu?”

Given said Lusanda will continue to live in his heart. She was laid to rest at the Rocky Drift cemetery after the service.

Meanwhile, two accused, Katlego Mokoena and Lungelo Sithole, both 18, appeared in the Nelspruit Magistrate’s Court on November 12. The two suspects abandoned their bail application and will remain in custody. The case was postponed to January 28 next year.

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Police have confirmed that they stand accused of murdering Lusanda. Mpumalanga police spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Jabu Ndubane, said Mokoena and Sithole were arrested after the SAPS received a report of a residential burglary in Matsafeni.

“Upon arrival, it was established that members of the Public Order Policing (POP) unit were already on the scene. Officers discovered the young woman lying in a pool of blood with multiple stab wounds and showing no signs of life.”

Preliminary investigations suggest that the two accused gained entry to the house by jumping over the wall. “It is alleged that one of the suspects was a former friend of the victim. Emergency services declared her dead at the scene,” Ndubane said.