Andrea Cholo left her family home for Seshego, Limpopo, on August 16, to buy a birthday cake for her four-year-old daughter.
That was the last time her family saw the 26-year-old — until a fateful day in November when her decomposed body was found buried.
She was one of the seven victims of alleged serial killer Themba Prince Willard Dube, 36, who appeared in the Seshego magistrate's court on Monday, on charges of murder and seven of kidnapping. Police said his modus operandi was to lure women with the promise of employment.
I can't believe that she has passed, my spirit is refusing to accept it.
— Kate Manaka
Parents Helen, 58, and Elias Cholo, 60, said it's a painful reminder every day as their grandchild believes her mother is coming home with a cake for her birthday.
“I comfort myself with the thought that I have found her and I will bury her where others are resting, and when her daughter grows, I will go show her mother’s grave,” said Elias.
He said he had been expecting a bright future for his daughter, who had graduated in media studies in 2019, though she was unemployed at the time of her death.
In the neighbouring village of Ga Chuene, Sarah Mothiba’s husband and family are also battling to cope.
It was through tracing her stolen cellphone — for which Dube was initially arrested on November 3 — that led police to the discovery of seven bodies, buried around Seshego.
Mothiba’s aunt, Violet Rakoma, 53, said she left home at around 6am on October 18 for a local restaurant where she worked part-time.
Then they started receiving strange calls from her number, with a man allegedly asking various family members for money.
She said the man said he was somewhere in Bochum and would release Sarah somewhere in Polokwane once payment was made.
But any hopes of seeing her alive were dashed when police called them to come identify a body.
“My niece had a rope in her mouth and around her neck. They are damaged, all those women, some of them had burn wounds.”
Sarah’s husband, John, said what he saw in the mortuary was heartbreaking.
“When I think of the pain my children are feeling, it’s more than the pain that I am feeling,” he said. She leaves two children aged 23 and 18.
Three of the families are still waiting for the outcomes of DNA results.
In Luthuli park extension 9 L, Kate Manaka, 58, the mother of Mpho Senyatsi, is desperately clinging to the hope that the DNA will prove them wrong, and that their daughter is still alive.
Senyatsi, 35, was reported missing last month.
Manaka said on October 13 a “tall slender man” came into her home with a job offer saying that he was directed by a lady who sells kota down the road.
Desperate and unemployed. Senyatsi went with him, believing it was to a fast food outlet he said he was recruiting for.
Looking back now, she had painful regrets.
“I feel I made a mistake by letting my daughter go.”
Senyatsi leaves behind two sons, aged 16 and 13, and a six-year-old daughter.
Manaka said she is still waiting for her daughter to come back as promised.
“I can't believe that she has passed, my spirit is refusing to accept it.”
Khomotso Makhura, 41, was reported missing on October 16 after she failed to return from a prospective job.
Her older sister, Sarinah Masia, 51, said Makhura had moved to Seshego while job hunting.
“Early on October 15, I woke up and sent her a message telling her that I had a bad dream about her and asking if she is OK. The message showed that it was seen but she didn’t respond. I called but the phone was off,” she said.
Her niece, Lentheng Masia, said the landlady called the next day to say Makhura never returned home, but a man she had left with earlier had returned to fetch her TV, clothes and a blanket.
While they are still waiting for the DNA results, the family said they cannot believe that she is dead.
Lentheng said Makhura had reached a stage where she was desperate for any job to put food on the table. She leaves behind two children aged, 22 and 20.
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