Would the murder of a 24-year-old woman have made national news had she not been related rather distantly to Trevor Noah?

When Cebisile Happiness Khoza was brutally stabbed to death near Msinga, she made not just national news once, but her death has maintained a strong news presence, with family interviews and school interviews being published. Her status has become akin to that of a South African ‘A’ list celebrity.

Okay, let’s recap: The murder happened in Greytown after the 24-year-old teacher left her home in Msinga (an area near Ladysmith) to prepare for her graduation ceremony. She went to a salon to have her hair and nails done, and then disappeared. The next day, farm workers came across her body in a sugarcane plantation near Greytown. The body was badly burned and she had been stabbed several times. The funeral was held in a village near Wasbank on Saturday.

So let’s be honest here, had she not been distantly related to super-famous Trevor Noah, would her death have even ‘blipped’ on the radar?

Trevor and the murdered student had not been close, as they lived in different provinces, but they knew each other, a family member is quoted as saying…

Neither Trevor’s Twitter or facebook site initially mention the death at all.

Then came this tweet today:

https://twitter.com/PrincessKatlee/status/602526374654550016

Is it a case of local media houses making a story bigger than it is out of nothing but a rather tenuous link, or can we honestly say the murder of a 24-year-old in crime riddled South Africa really is front-page news?

To put the murder in context, taxi violence in Ezakheni has claimed close to 50 killed or injured in Ladysmith in the last two years. None of the killings made national front-page news.

See video of taxi-related killings:

So the question I ask is a rather simple one: Do you really have to be related to someone famous in South Africa for your murder to count?

Please comment below the story and let me know what you think!