Residents of Langa’s old flats near zone 26 are still reeling from the loss of “bubbly and fun-loving” Unathi Madotyeni, whose mutilated body was found just 300m from her home.
Her heartbroken family says they have no hope the killer will be found and brought to justice.
“Though we know it is unlikely that this case will be taken seriously, we are not allowed to take the law into our own hands anymore, and the way he took her life was very brutal,” said Madotyeni’s uncle Ntsikelelo Mthetho.
Unathi, 33, who arrived in Cape Town in February to further her studies, left her home with a friend around 6pm last Sunday.
A friend, who asked to remain anonymous, says they went to a tavern, and then another friend’s house, with a male acquaintance.
At the friend’s house, Unathi allegedly decided to go home and the man followed her out.
Unathi’s distraught family explains she had two gashes to her forehead, and blood streaming out of her one eye socket had dried up.
Her cousin Noluvuyo Booi says: “When she was found her jeans were pulled down to her knees and they told us her eyes had been taken out. Who does that, what kind of an animal is this guy?”
An angry Ntsikelelo cannot understand why police had not arrested the man who was last seen with his niece.
“Witnesses confirmed to police he had changed his clothes, but he denied this. Police did not even bother to look into this,” he said.
Captain FC van Wyk said a case of murder is being investigated and no arrests have yet been made.