Early this month, a woman who was loved and respected by the community survived a strange attack. She woke up one night, feeling pain, only to find that part of her ear had been cut off.

She and her husband, who was sleeping next to her, never saw the perpetrators. The matter was reported to the police, but so far, no one has been apprehended.

Now Rirhandzu Faith Makamu (33) of Malamulele is gone, never to return. Her passing away has left the community angry and looking for answers.

Last Wednesday she left for work at Elim, where she worked for the Road Accident Fund. She was never seen alive again ... Her body was found between Madonsi and Greenfarm by motorists, and police spokesman Lt Col Mohale Ramatseba said that she had many wounds on her face. The police also suspect that she had been raped.

Makamu’s death adds to the increasing number of gruesome incidents involving women in the Malamulele area.

Her shaken mother is failing to come to terms with her daughter’s death. “If I know who killed my daughter and why, I will be able to accept her brutal death,” said the inconsolable mother, Ms Nkhensani Maringa. She said her daughter had endured much pain in her short life. “We do not know what happened and why and this makes the pain worse,” said Maringa.

On Tuesday, Limpopo Mirror visited the grief-stricken family, who had just arrived back from the postmortem at the local hospital.

Lindiwe Maringa, the deceased’s younger sister said she phoned her sister on Thursday, only to find that her phone was on voice mail. “I tried calling her domestic worker and her son, but could not reach them. I phoned my brother in-law, who also told me that she had not phoned but he believed that she would phone when she reached home,” she said.

"We were very shocked to learn that her body was found lying along the road," she added. Maringa said they would wait for the police to do their job. “We only hope that they will do their investigations thoroughly and work tirelessly to arrest the murderer or murderers. We are happy the police are keeping us informed of the developments," said the grieving mother.

Limpopo police spokesperson Lt Col Ramatseba called on people with information to inform the police at the Malamulele Police station or to phone 0860 010 111.

Makamu is to be buried on Saturday.