Family’s four-year wait to bury murdered son
Four years after Mmeli Ngcobo, a Grade 12 learner at Hillgrove Secondary was abducted, assaulted, dumped and burnt beyond recognition in an abandoned field, his family is yet to hold his funeral.
Image: Supplied
THE Ngcobo family of Castle Hill, Newlands West, Durban, has endured the unthinkable: more than four years since the brutal murder of their son, they have chosen not to bury him until his killers are brought to justice.
Seventeen-year-old Mmeli Ngcobo, a Grade 12 learner at Hillgrove Secondary, in Newlands East, was abducted on 22 February 2021. Witnesses said two men forced him into a grey Mercedes-Benz after he was accused of stealing a classmate’s cellphone.
Days later, his burnt body was discovered in KwaMkhizwane, near Cato Ridge. Four people were arrested in connection with the crime. They were Asanda Nyawuza (23), Andile Myeni (19), Thuthukani Nyawuza (37) and Hopewell "Bhuti" Nyamakazi (47).
Myeni, Nyawuza and Nyamakazi have been charged with intimidation, assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, kidnapping and murder, while Asanda faced only assault charges.
This week, the Durban High Court heard harrowing testimony from one of Ngcobo's classmates, Slindokuhle Ngcobo, who described watching him being forced into the vehicle.
“Two men got out of the car and pushed him into the backseat. After that, the car drove towards Dumisani Makhaye Drive,” he told the court. Shocked, he and others ran to inform Mmeli’s grandmother before reporting the abduction at Newlands East police station.
The cellphone that triggered the ordeal, he added, had gone missing the Friday before. When he confronted Mmeli, he insisted he was innocent.
“He told me he would never steal because his parents take good care of him. They have shops and sometimes give him R300 a day,” he testified. The phone allegedly belonged to the daughter of the accused, Hopewell Nyamakazi.
While the legal process unfolds, Mmeli’s remains have been kept at the Pinetown state mortuary, a decision his family says they made deliberately.
“We agreed as a family not to bury him until this case is finalised and judgment is delivered,” said his mother, Hlengiwe Ngcobo.
“Only then will we hold a funeral.”
The family has become accustomed to waiting. They waited for months for the DNA results of the charred remains to confirm if it was that of their son.
Last year, Hlengiwe admitted she was not entirely certain, as the accused denied all charges. Months after Mmeli's body was discovered, the community of Newlands West marched to the provincial headquarters of the SAPS to demand the release of the DNA results.
For now, the family’s grief remains suspended, tied to the slow turn of the wheels of justice. The trial continues.