Family blames cops for not doing enough to find missing eMbalenhle woman (19)
Tenele Mkhabela’s body was found in the Wellas River on June 12.
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, Tenele 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. 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.
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“He asked me to call him if she arrived. I became increasingly worried as time went by. Her boyfriend later came to tell me that he could not find her. I asked whether they had fought, but he said no,” said Fakude.
Fakude asked the boyfriend on June 8 if he had reported Tenele missing to the police, and he assured Fakude that he did.
She confirmed this with the police. Fakude consulted a traditional healer the next day in an effort to locate her daughter.
“The healer told me Tenele had been kidnapped, was still alive and was being held in a shack in Azania. I informed Tenele’s boyfriend about what I had been told, but he said nothing,” she said.
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 to determine whether it was her daughter.
“While we were on our way, we met community members returning from the scene who told us that the body that had been discovered was that of a man,” she said.
Fakude said on June 12, a community leader visited her home and advised her to go to the river after another body, believed to be that of a woman, had been found, and police were still at the scene.
“Upon arriving there, I identified my daughter by the clothes she was wearing,” said Fakude.
She described 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.
“If the police had acted swiftly after she was reported missing and investigated everyone involved, including the boyfriend, my daughter might still be alive,” said Fakude.
Fakude also expressed anger that her daughter had returned from Eswatini.
“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,” she said.
Sergeant Busi Mthethwa confirmed police were summoned to a scene where a woman’s body was floating in the river. The woman had multiple stab wounds on her body.
Mthethwa said all role players were called to the scene, including divers. The next of kin was located and the deceased was identified as Teneke Fakude.
She said the suspects are unknown and that the investigation continues.
