Family blames police after missing eMbalenhle teenager is found murdered
An aggrieved Mpumalanga mother wants to know why police failed to interrogate the last person seen with her teenage daughter before her body was discovered.
The family of 19-year-old Tenele Mkhabela from Ext 22, Azania, in eMbalenhle, wish the police had done more to find the missing woman before she was killed. This follows the discovery of Tenele’s body floating in the Wellas River, not far from her home, on June 12.
Tenele’s mother, Nqobile Fakude, told Ridge Times that she believes the police failed to act on information that could have helped locate her daughter sooner. According to Fakude, her daughter had been in Eswatini when her boyfriend, who is also the father of her three-year-old daughter, sent her money to return to South Africa.
“My daughter returned from Eswatini at the end of May,” Fakude said. “Her boyfriend came on June 6 and took her to his house. The following day, June 7, he called me and said Tenele was no longer at his house and asked whether she had come home. I told him she had not.”
Unanswered questions and a mother’s dread
The boyfriend asked Fakude to call him if Tenele arrived. “I became increasingly worried as time went by,” she recalled. “Her boyfriend later came to tell me that he could not find her. I asked whether they had fought, but he said no.”
On June 8, when Fakude enquired, the boyfriend assured her that he had reported Tenele missing, which she later confirmed with the police. Fakude consulted a traditional healer the next day to locate her daughter.
“The healer told me Tenele had been kidnapped, was still alive and was being held in a shack in Azania,” Fakude said. “I informed Tenele’s boyfriend about what I had been told, but he said nothing.”
Grim discoveries at the Wellas River
Two days later, on June 11, a neighbour informed Fakude of a body in the Wellas River. She immediately asked other women to accompany her to the scene, but while on their way, they met community members who revealed the discovered body was that of a man.
On June 12, a community leader visited Fakude’s home and advised her to go to the river after another body, believed to be a woman, was found. Police were still at the scene.
“Upon arriving there, I identified my daughter by the clothes she was wearing,” said Fakude, describing the moment as the most painful experience of her life. “I saw my daughter’s body covered in blood and stab wounds. I still see that picture in my mind.”
Calls for accountability as investigation continues
Fakude believes swifter action could have changed the outcome. “If the police had acted swiftly after she was reported missing and investigated everyone involved, including her boyfriend, my daughter might still be alive.”
She also expressed anger over her daughter’s return to South Africa. “I even blame her boyfriend for bringing her back to South Africa. Had he left her in Eswatini, she might still be alive today. Now her child must grow up without a mother.”
Sergeant Busi Mthethwa confirmed police were summoned to a scene where a woman’s body, bearing multiple stab wounds, was floating in the river.
Mthethwa said all role players, including divers, were called to the scene. The next of kin was located and the deceased was identified by police as Teneke Mkhabela. She added that the suspects are currently unknown, and the investigation continues.
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