Africa-Press – South-Africa. Seventeen-year-old Palesa Malatji, who was brutally raped and killed last week, will be remembered by her family as a bubbly and caring person who loved school and books.
Palesa, a matric pupil at Ntsako Secondary School in Soshanguve, north-west of Pretoria, went missing on Thursday afternoon.
She was last seen at school in the afternoon, having just finished attending extra classes.
“She left the school and was on her way home,” her uncle, Thabiso Malatji, told News24.
“At around 17:00, we were surprised not to see her [at home], so we started looking for her.”
Malatji explained that Palesa was always home before 17:00 and that it wasn’t like her to be late, which was why they immediately started searching for her.
He said that, while looking for Palesa, they phoned her school principal to find out when the last classes had finished. They were informed that Palesa was last seen around 16:00.
The family then went to a nearby clinic to see if she had been there.
At around 20:00, the family went to the Rietgat Police Station, where they asked for help with the search.
Malatji said that, according to police, there was no vehicle available to assist with a search.
“The police station has failed my family in many ways.”
It was allegedly only around 23:45 that police started to help the family.
Following up on information from a young boy, who had spoken of hearing strange noises in a veld, Palesa’s body was discovered.
“You could see the bruises around her neck,” Malatji said.
He told News24 that a post-mortem examination had found that Palesa had been raped and strangled.
Remembering Palesa
Malatji said the family had been trying to cope with Palesa’s death, but the death of a child was beyond painful.
“We don’t have words to express how we feel.”
Malatji said it was a big loss to the family, especially to Palesa’s mother, who had struggled financially, but worked hard to raise her.
He told News24 that Palesa was an intelligent teenager who had a bright future.
“She was one of the best [at her school].
“Palesa and the school were like friends. She loved her books.”
Malatji also recalled how every evening, when she returned from school, she would continue reading.
The girl’s uncle told News24 that Palesa would be remembered as a bubbly, loving and caring person, who was always smiling.
“She was one of the kindest people I knew.”
‘She was a high-performing learner’
On Monday morning, Gauteng Education MEC Matome Chiloane visited Palesa’s family and school.
Pupils raised many issues with the MEC, including the issue of safety.
Chiloane said money had been set aside to procure patrollers and intensify the safety strategy at schools.
He said there was a programme to install cameras, which were linked to a provincial command centre as well as panic buttons.
Speaking about the murder of Palesa, Chiloane said the death of one child was one too many.
He said the perpetrators of the crime were heartless and did not deserve to be in society.
“I said to them [the police], this case must be cracked very quickly,” Chiloane.
“Palesa is not just a statistic to us, she is not just a number, she was the future of this country. She was a high-performing learner. She could have been a doctor, she could have been a scientist. It’s a big loss.”
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