The police are investigating a case of murder after a body of an eight months pregnant woman was found in the back of a burnt-out bakkie in a plantation near Bergville, in KwaZulu-Natal.
A family from Estcourt believes it could be the remains of their daughter Hlengiwe Ndaba who recently went missing.
Ashes and the burnt-out remains of a vehicle is what is left on the side of a gravel road passing through a gumtree plantation in the Vimbukhalo area near Bergville.
Ndaba – who was heavily pregnant – is a mother of two children aged 11 and two years. Ndaba, who teaches at a local school, was last seen last week Wednesday. The Ndaba family says they were notified the next day that her burnt-out vehicle was found in the plantation.
In the back of the bakkie were the remains of a person who was burnt beyond recognition.
Thembelani Ndaba, a family member, says DNA results will show if it was Hlengiwe Ndaba’s remains that were found in the vehicle.
Thembelani says, “Even though we do not have clear evidence to say this is our daughter but the DNA has been done, it was discovered that someone who was found at the back of the car was pregnant, our daughter was pregnant and she was expecting to deliver in September. So we can just link the matter and say it was her…”
“But now we are waiting for the police to confirm after the DNA has been done. Now we are appealing to the police to assist us to speed up the process so that we can have a closure on this matter,” added Thembelani.
Ndaba’s mother Thokozile MaDlamini-Ndaba says they are shocked about what happened because her daughter never mentioned getting any threats.
Ma-Dlamini-Ndaba says, “We are calling on police to speed up their investigation. We are confused. We cannot even light the candles because we cannot even sleep at night. We don’t know whether we should continue searching for her. We want to at least bury her.”
Police Spokesperson Nqobile Gwala says police are investigating a case of murder.
Gwala says, “A van bakkie was found with human remains and the body was found beyond recognition and it had bullet holes. A postmortem was conducted and revealed that the remains were of a woman who was 8 months pregnant and a DNA has been conducted to establish the identity of the victim. The matter is still under investigation.”
The Mayor of the iNkosi Langalibalele Municipality Jabu Mbhele has voiced her concern about incidents of gender-based violence in the area.
Another woman was allegedly murdered by her partner in the Shayamoyangaphansi area at Estcourt.
Mbhele has encouraged women to leave abusive relationships.
“These two incidents it is alleged that these two women were being killed by their lovers. So it is very much painful about that. Gender based violence has been declared by the president of the country that we are saying no. I am also urging women that they mustn’t persevere on something that they can see that this one cannot change. So I am begging my residents, especially women let us walk away from these toxic relationships.”
Police are investigating both cases.
Below are GBV stats under lockdown:
