IN PICS | ‘Our story was not supposed to end like this’: Friends and family mourn DUT student

30 March 2022 - 08:05 By Lwazi Hlangu
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The family of Durban University of Technology (DUT) student Sphesihle Duma say they cannot find peace until they get answers about their daughter’s mysterious death.

Duma, 23, known as “Sips” to her friends, was a third year dramatic arts student from Sundumbili, Mandeni.

She was last seen alive on CCTV footage leaving a nightclub at about 1am on Thursday. Her body was found floating at South Beach about four hours later.

DUT students held a candlelight service in her honour outside the university’s Ritson campus on Tuesday night.

Sibahle Magwaza, her close friend and roommate since 2020, told TimesLIVE she last saw Duma on Wednesday. Magwaza had an evening class at 8pm and when she returned, Duma was gone and had left her cellphone charging.

“I assumed she was not far so I slept. The next morning I asked one of her cast, because we’re directing as third year students, about her and was told she was absent. That’s when I thought there’s no way she would leave without her phone and skip rehearsals.”

Magwaza gave it another day, as she didn’t want to alarm the family in case Duma showed up later that day.

“On Friday I decided to tell her aunt Zinhle that I hadn’t seen Sips for two days. We opened a missing person’s case because that was not like her. We started searching for her and got some leads.”

Zinhle Madela, Duma’s aunt, learnt at Point police station that a body matching her description was found floating in the sea and had been taken to Phoenix mortuary, where they identified her body.

Investigations by her friends and aunt led them to a nightclub in South Beach where they were granted access to CCTV footage.

“The footage shows her being dragged by her hair by a guy who was forcefully taking her out of the club,” her aunt said.

Madela said she stayed behind when the rest of the family returned home to  KwaSwayimane because she couldn’t leave without knowing what happened.

“We’ve not found peace. We can’t cry or grieve for now because we want to know what happened.”

Zinhle Madela, Sphesihle Duma's aunt, holds a candle at a prayer service at the Durban University of Technology.
Zinhle Madela, Sphesihle Duma's aunt, holds a candle at a prayer service at the Durban University of Technology.
Image: Sandile Ndlovu/Sunday Times

The family hope footage from surveillance cameras around the beach will help identify the man last seen with Duma.

“It’s a matter of finding out what happened in those four hours (between 1am and 5am) because her  body was found around the same area as the location where she was last seen.”

Magwaza could not hold back her tears when she explained how she was struggling to accept her friend is gone.

“Sometimes I ask myself if I had came back at 9pm, instead of 10pm, maybe I would have found her while she was leaving and went with her. She had been wanting to go out but I kept saying we had a debate the following day,” she said.

“I don’t want to speak about her as someone who has passed on because in some way I feel like she will come back. I don’t lock the door. I think she will return and say ‘I’m back’, like she used to say.

“It’s hard. It is not a way to say goodbye. Our story was not supposed to end like this.”

KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson Col Nqobile Gwala said: “An inquest docket was opened at Point for investigation after a 23-year-old female drowned at South Beach while she was swimming on March 24 2022 at 6.41am. Circumstances surrounding the incident are being investigated.”

DUT said in a statement: “The university was shocked and sad to learn about the tragic passing of Miss Siphesihle Duma. We convey our most sincere condolences to her family, friends and classmates. The DUT community prays her soul will rest in eternal peace. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends at this difficult time.”

TimesLIVE

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