Another student has died at the Vaal University of Technology (VUT).

Four students have been murdered in and around campus in the past few months.

Final-year cost and management accounting student Thandeka Nkosi, 27, is the fifth to die under mysterious circumstances.

Nkosi's brother, who declined to be named, said a postmortem had found that his sister was strangled and that the suicide rumours were untrue.

"Our sister was murdered and it is very important that we say this to the students," he said at a memorial service at the university yesterday.

He said the family had found blood on Nkosi' s pillow and mattress.

The brother further accused university management of concealing information about his sister's death. He said the family would be seeking legal advice.

Nkosi's body was discovered in her locked room at a student residence last Friday.

Her friend Sphiwe Khoza told Sowetan that she had last seen Nkosi on Monday, and noticed only on Friday that the heater in her room was on and that her window was open .

She said she also heard from other students that there were flies and a foul smell coming out of Nkosi's room.

On Friday, she approached residence management and was given a master key to the room. She and a security guard made the gruesome discovery.

"I just saw her legs and from there I could not bring myself to look at her," said Khoza.

Speaking during the memorial service, Khoza said they had been planning their graduation day and the dresses they would be wearing. Nkosi will be buried in Duduza on the East Rand tomorrow.

Nkosi's death comes barely two months after two female students from Vaal University of Technology were murdered in their off-campus residence.

After the death of the students in September, the university said it had appointed a company to install CCTV cameras at on- and off-campus residences.

This was after students embarked on a lengthy protest and class boycott.

Student representative council (SRC) president Troy Mathebula said the CCTV cameras had not yet been installed.

"If all those things are not going to be implemented, no one is going to enter those residences and people will have to account."

But university spokesman Mike Khuboni said the report the institution had received was that Nkosi had complained of a headache and had asked for medication, which she was given.

According to the paramedics report, she might have overdosed on the pills, Kuboni said.

Vanderbijlpark police spokeswoman Sergeant Gertrude Magale confirmed a student was found dead in her room and that police were waiting for a postmortem report.

macupeb@sowetan.co.za