Nomfundo Masinda, 54, has been forced to abandon the home she shared with her murdered 13-year-old daughter Sihle, after putting pressure on the police to act on information regarding Sihle's horrific murder.
Nomfundo Masinda, 54, has been forced to abandon the home she shared with her murdered 13-year-old daughter Sihle, after putting pressure on the police to act on information regarding Sihle's horrific murder.
Speaking to Grocott's Mail on Wednesday 26 February Masinda said she pressured police to question and arrest people who were implicated in her daughter's murder.
Masinda claims to know people who have been linked to Sihle's murder.
She has shared this information with the investigating officer, but claims he has failed to act on the leads.
"I have left my home in Lingelihle to stay with my sister in her house because I am afraid these kids will attack me because I live by myself in that house," she said.
Sihle's body was found dumped at the sewage works on Monday 9 December.
At the time her mother told Grocott's Mail that she had reason to believe her daughter was attacked by initiates.
Community members had identified initiates they claimed were implicatedin the incident, Masinda said.
She told of her frustration with trying to get updates from the local police station about the search for her missing child, only to be told her decomposing body had been found.
Police spokesperson Captain Mali Govender said the child's body had been forced into the sewer, with her legs crossed and her body covered with rocks.
Sihle was attending Kuyasa Special School because she was mentally challenged.
Her mother believes that her attackers took advantage of this and lured her daughter away to attack her.
"They killed my baby girl in a brutal manner. I can't stop thinking about things. Maybe it's because nobody has been held responsible for it," said an emotional Masinda.
Masinda knows the names and faces of the initiates which she claims were implicated in her daughter's murder, as do community members in Extension 7.
She says community members have threatened to harm these men, because of the police's failure to do their job.
Masinda says one of the four men implicated in the attack has admitted to his mother that he saw the three initiates with Sihle before she was murdered.
Two of the three initiates who were pointed out have distanced themselves from the brutal incident implicating the other initiate, according to Masinda.
Masinda broke down as she looked at pictures of her daughter, insisting that the police had failed her daughter and her family.
"[The investigating officer] says I must bring someone who can say they saw what happened on the day Sihle was attacked and not tell him about things I have heard from other people ," she said.
Responding to the allegations Grahamstown station commander Brigadier Morgan Govender said the investigation was at a very sensitive stage.
He said police were as concerned as Masinda regarding her daughter's tragic death.
Govender said the police were questioning people but there are no direct witnesses linking anyone to the murder at this stage.
