A Tantyi mother who lost her only son after he had been stabbed over a cigarette last weekend broke down as she relived their last hours together. Relatives had to calm Liziwe Mali as she described seeing him leave for school that morning.

A Tantyi mother who lost her only son after he had been stabbed over a cigarette last weekend broke down as she relived their last hours together. Relatives had to calm Liziwe Mali as she described seeing him leave for school that morning.

She'd never guessed it would be for the last time.

Nkosikhona, 21, was on the verge of his second chance at passing matric and was writing an exam on Friday.

He left for school and she went to work.

"I never saw him again after that.

"I got a call from the mother of one of his friend on Saturday morning asking me to come see her," she said. Mali was visiting someone in Extension 10 when she got a call around 6am on Saturday.

She rushed down to K Street, where she was told her son had been stabbed to death. Although she was not entirely sure of the details leading to the time Nkosikhona was killed, Mali said friends who were with him before the incident told her he was stabbed at a Tantyi tavern after an altercation over a cigarette.

Mali said Nkosikhona knew the young man, from Hlalani, who was arrested.

"His friends say [the suspect]pretended to hug him. Moments later they heard my son say, ['he's] finished me' and he fell down," Mali said, before breaking down in tears.

When Grocott's Mail arrived at Mali's U Street home, relatives were there to console the grieving mother. She told Grocott's Mail that Nkosikhona was a wonderful young man who had never given her any trouble.

"We lived together in this house, just the two of us and I never encountered any problems with him. He was a good child," she said.

Police were not available for comment at the time of going to press.

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