THE family of a woman from Steak Farm, Hibberdene, who has been missing for almost a month, is blaming the father of the children for the loss of a relative.
Ms. Nonhlanhla “Nhlanhlo” Shezi (34) is said to have been last seen on May 15 when she had an argument with the children’s father, beating him, at their apartment in Kotishini. It is said that this place is not so far away from his home that he used to walk from there.
According to his mother, Ms. Hlengiwe Shezi, the victim was a constant person at home even though he was living on rent. He said he would come home almost every day, stay for a while, and then return to the apartment where he lived with his son (11), daughter (9) and the children’s father.
He said it was May 17 this year when he realized that Ms. Shezi was supposed to come home, but she left her mother without being seen.
“I called her, her boyfriend answered, she said she didn’t know where she was, she said she left on Friday night and they had been arguing,” said Ms. Shezi.
He said he was surprised that the boyfriend said the victim was not there, but his cell phone was answered by him, so he immediately went there.
He said that’s when he heard about their child (11) that his mother kept him on Friday night, with his father standing for him with a stick.
He stated that when he asked other tenants in the yard, he found out that even the child was right.
“They also testified that they heard Nhlanhlo crying for help on the same day,” he said.
He said that none of them went public that we went to mediate for the wrestler but all of them said that was the last time they heard from him, they never saw him again.
Ms. Shezi said she went to the police to report a missing person, and said there was no concrete action taken by the law enforcement.
“We went for a walk with the community, we went to look for ourselves in the nearby forests, and we came back empty-handed. We didn’t find even the slightest trace,” he said.
He pointed out that the police questioned the boyfriend earlier this week, but he denied knowing anything.
“What I noticed is that he is talking incoherently because he says that Nhlanhlo went missing on June 6, when he went missing in the middle of last month. And he initially denied that on the day he was kept, he beat him,” said Ms. Shezi.
He said that the boyfriend initially denied and lay on his back that he hit the wrestler. When she was pressed by the tenants who said they heard her hitting him, she turned around and slapped him once.
“I asked him the question of whether he can still be misled by being slapped and the child said that he also punched him, and he stopped and admitted that he really hit him,” he said.
She described the boyfriend as a violent person, and said that her daughter has endured the caning for years.
“He always hit her, sometimes he even hit her in front of me. I also know his fist, he hit me last year and I told him not to hit Nhlanhlo in front of me,” said Ms. Shezi.
He said that they used to reprimand the victim saying that it would not handle the matter of his abuse well, that he should leave the father of the children, but he left him for a while, and they saw that they were back together.
He said he was afraid that the man would do something bad to the victim because if they had an argument, he would beat him and run away from home or his friends.
“He would come home even at 1 in the morning when he hit her. Sometimes he went to his friends who live nearby. It has never happened that he just disappeared to an unknown place. I suspect that he did something to her,” he said.
Women of Mthwalume, an organization that fights for women and children, Ms. Nombuso Sibisi, complained about the police dragging their feet in this matter.
“I have spoken to the station managers but they told me to wait for the detective appointed for this case to call me, but so far the family has not been contacted by the police,” said Ms. Sibisi, who said that her wish is for justice to be served, for her to be found living with the rapist so that she can return home.
