Family speak out on young mother’s murder
Zanele Mhlongo, 35, the distraught mother of an 18-year-old rape and murder victim from KwaNdaye Reserve, outside eSikhaleni, in KwaZulu-Natal, is struggling to come to terms with the brutal death of her daughter Senamile Manqele.
Manqele was shot and dumped in nearby bushes last Sunday. Her body was recovered in a pine tree forest by her neighbour. She had also been sexually assaulted, Zululand Observer reported.
According to her mother, Manqele 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 Mhlongo.
“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,” Mhlongo said, “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 metres from our house,” she said.
During the autopsy, it was determined Manqele had been sexually assaulted before she was killed.
Her neigbours described her an intelligent young woman.
“She was a respectful person who loved her family, especially her son,” one neighbour said.
Empangeni police spokesperson Captain Mbongeni Mdlalose asked the community to contact the eSikhawini police with any information about the incident.
No arrests have yet been made.
– Caxton News Service
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