MANDISA Ngcobo is in shock and
her two girls orphaned after their Congolese dad was burnt beyond recognition at Adams Mission, near eManzimtoti.
Fridge technician Claude Katanda Mazuruza, 32, and his friend Alex Musambya, 30, had apparently received a call from a customer to fix a fridge when they were murdered last week.
Sobbing uncontrollably, a
distraught Ngcobo told the Sunday Tribune she could not bear the pain of losing her daughters’ father.
On Thursday, relatives of both men gathered at KwaMakhutha police
station to seek the bodies’ release from the Park Rynie mortuary.
Daniel Dunia of the African Solidarity Network, who accompanied the relatives to the mortuary, said they would bury the men in Durban, and not their birthplace in South Kivu, Uvira township in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
However, police said the bodies would only be released after their identities were confirmed through DNA analysis.
Mazuruza and Musambya were found dead by community members near the main road in Adams Mission.
Alex Musambya
Police spokesperson Captain Nqobile Gwala confirmed that a case of murder was being investigated.
“It is alleged that two bodies of unknown men were found burnt at Nkangala area, Adams Mission.
“The motive for the killing is
still unknown at this stage,” Gwala said. Ngcobo, 24, became emotional when she recalled how Mazuruza often complained that locals were full of hatred towards him because he was a Congolese.
Although she could not confirm the motive for his brutal killing, she suspected it could be xenophobia.
“He told me locals had evil hearts, but I argued that not all locals behave that way,” she said.
Mazuruza is survived by his two daughters, Sisanda, 4, and 11 month-old Banele.