#JusticeforTshegoPule: Heartbroken family will never see her unborn child

The excitement about a new bundle of joy joining a Soweto family has been replaced with sorrow and heartache.

A baby shower with family and friends is something Tshegofatso Pule will never experience.

“There was a baby shower the cousins and friends were planning for her. Everybody had  bought stuff, and now you can just imagine what we are going through.

“We were happy because there was going to be a new member of the family, knowing that Tshego didn’t grow up with her mother and her dad passed away when she was very young,” her uncle, Tumisang Katake, told TimesLIVE on Tuesday afternoon.

Katake said the 28-year-old lost her mother in 2009, but that didn’t deter her from achieving her dreams.

She worked as a make-up artist and wanted to pursue studies in marketing.

Pule's body was found hanging from a tree in the veld on Monday.

Police spokesperson Capt Kay Makhubela confirmed that her body was found by a community member.

Makhubela said she had a stab wound in her chest.

Pule was eight months pregnant with a daughter, who would have been her first child.  

Katake said the family became suspicious after Whatsapp messages and calls to her went unanswered on Friday. She was last on Whatsapp just before 10pm on Thursday.

She left her aunt’s home in Meadowlands in Soweto and, according to Katake, was picked up by her boyfriend to go to buy maternity clothes.

“She promised my aunt she would be back soon, but she didn’t make it home that day. We tried all Friday to get hold of her, but her phone went to voicemail and her Whatsapp messages didn’t go through.

“We are not doing OK, really not OK, but we will start unpacking everything after the funeral.”

Pule, who was described as “bubbly and outgoing”, will be buried in Meadowlands on Thursday.