Another mysterious killing

The grieving mother of a 26-year-old Tshisahulu-Siawoadza woman, who was found floating in the water at the Tshidumbi River bridge between Shayandima and Itsani, said she had accepted that she would not see her daughter again.

Ms Gladys Negovha was reacting after the discovery of the body of her daughter, Nthuseni Negovha, a mother of two. The young woman’s body was found by a passer-by at around 06:00. According to the police, the body had bullet wounds in the stomach and another below the breast and some of her teeth were broken. The body was found with the head submerged in the water, while the rest of the body was on a cement slab.

Even though she is a local resident, she could not be identified immediately as a result of the mutilations she had on her face. Some of the soft tissue on her face was missing, allegedly devoured by water animals

The police believe she was killed somewhere and dumped at the river. At the spot where the body was found, there were only a few drops of blood, which also suggests that she might have been killed somewhere else and dumped there later.

Limpopo Mirror visited the family on Monday. Ms Gladys Negovha expressed the pain she has been going through since the death of her daughter. “

"I have accepted her death. I have accepted that I will not see her again. I saw her grave, but my soul is still troubled by the fact that police have not yet arrested the perpetrator," she said.

Negovha said her daughter left home on Saturday morning, saying she was going to work at a salon in Thohoyandou.

"Seeing that it was getting late and she was not coming back, I thought that she might be helping a client. As time went by, I decided to phone her, but she did not answer. I sent her a message, realising that the phone was not being answered. What surprised me was that the message was answered in English. It is strange, because my daughter knew that I am not good in English," said Negovha.

She said she wrote back, questioning why the message was in English and that was when the phone went dead. "We went to bed, not knowing where she was. On Sunday, we decided to phone her husband, but the phone was answered by a woman who said he was in Duthuni. I phoned him again around 20:00 and the same woman said he had not come back," she said.

On Monday, when they were going to report her missing, they got the bad news.

Community leader Michael Gumula of the Matieni Sanco said the community was shocked about the incident. "We are tired of people just being killed like animals. We do not know who will be next and we fear that the killers might strike again if we do not stand up together and expose them," he said.

Thohoyandou police spokesperson Major Mashudu Malelo said they had opened a case of murder. “We are appealing to those who might have information that could help us crack the case to contact their nearest police station. Investigations continue,” said Malelo.

News - Date: 17 April 2014

Elmon Tshikhudo

Elmon Tshikhudo started off as a photographer. He developed an interest in writing and started submitting articles to local as well as national publications. He became part of the Limpopo Mirror family in 2005 and was a permanent part of the news team until 2019.

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