Africa-Press – South-Africa. The family of a 20-year-old Mpumalanga matric pupil is seeking for justice after she was found dead in Kwaggafontein.
After Charlotte Mabena went missing on 3 May 2022, her body was discovered the following day behind a school in an open veld.
Belina Mabena, 32, the dead woman’s sister, told News24 she last saw her sister going to the shops with her boyfriend.
“Her boyfriend accompanied her to the shopping centre to buy new stuff for a room she was moving into.”
She said she tried reaching Charlotte countless times as she was online on Facebook. However, she did not respond to her messages.
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After a week went by, the family opened a missing person’s case, when the police told them about a woman’s body found a week earlier in the veld.
“My two brothers were referred to Kwaggasfontain Police Station as there was an unidentified body found on 4 May. The police took them to the mortuary, where they confirmed it was Charlotte.”
Belina said they were informed Charlotte died an unnatural death as her injuries were very severe, making it difficult for her brothers to believe it was her.
“Her body was mutilated. She had a big cut on the forehead, which seemed as if she was hacked with an axe. It looks as if she was being dragged, including a series of what seemed to be burn wounds on her back.”
Charlotte’s mouth was still wide open at the mortuary and the family was told it was because she died while screaming.
When Belina questioned Charlotte’s boyfriend, he said he did not want to talk to her.
“I confronted the boyfriend about Charlotte’s whereabouts and he told me Charlotte just left him. He started to become aggressive and [was] shouting at me before he left,” she said.
Charlotte had recently returned to Thejane Secondary School to complete her matric after she gave birth two years ago.
Belina described her sister as a quiet and intelligent person who wanted to become a doctor.
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The family told News24 so far, they have not received communication from the police whether they’d found anything yet.
“Both the police and government have failed us. I’m living in fear right now thinking her killer(s) are still lurking around and they will come after me,” Belina said.
Mpumalanga police spokesperson Brigadier Selvy Mohlala told News24 the police suspect the cause of Charlotte’s death may have been strangulation, which was still under investigation.
According to Belina, two bodies were found in separate locations in 2020 and 2021 in the vicinity where Charlotte’s body was discovered.
She said this did not happen to Charlotte only, as there have been several cases like hers.
This, she said, was concerning. “What every family needs now is closure, because no arrests have been made in connection to the murders. We have young girls we need to take care of and it is scary because we don’t know who the killers are.”
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