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Drowning remembered - Tribute to Rhodes Park victims

Jabu Mbatha at Rhodes Park in Kensington, where she was raped by a group of men who also drowned her fiancé and his friend in October last year. Photo: MOEKETSI MOTICOE
Jabu Mbatha at Rhodes Park in Kensington, where she was raped by a group of men who also drowned her fiancé and his friend in October last year. Photo: MOEKETSI MOTICOE

The City of Johannesburg will honour two widows who survived the Rhodes Park double murder in which their partners were drowned.

Councillor Nonhlanhla Sifumba, member of the mayoral committee for community development, will lead the event to commemorate the death of Zukisa Kela, 25, and his friend Sizwe Tyeke, 32, on Monday.

Sifumba will also honour the "resilience" of their partners, Jabu Mbatha and Siphokazi Tyeke, who have been left behind. Mbatha has consented to being identified with a picture.

The two were killed by a group of 12 men while taking an early evening stroll with their partners at Kensington's Rhodes Park, east of Johannesburg, on October 17 last year.

The men robbed them, then tied Tyeke and Kela's hands behind their backs before throwing them into the lake where they drowned. They then proceeded to rape one of the women and sexually assaulted the other.

Three Zimbabwean nationals were later arrested while the rest are believed to have fled back to Zimbabwe.

The three made a brief appearance in the high court sitting in Palm Ridge yesterday. The trial, which was postponed, is expected to start next week.

The City said it wanted to remember the victims and honour the survivors since Monday will mark exactly a year since the horrific attack that shock Gauteng and raised questions about the safety of the province's public parks.

The City said it had since heightened security at Rhodes Park and had managed to keep it crime-free.

Sifumba was also expected to lay wreaths at the spot where the incident happened and pay tribute to the survivors. The community of Kensington and other government officials would be part of the event, said City Parks spokeswoman Jenny Moodley.

The widows have been living in a place of safety since the incident. They also received counselling and emotional support. Tyeke's widow Siphokazi has had to let her relatives raise her child. The couple lived in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape, and were in Johannesburg for a visit when the incident happened.

Siphokazi, 30, has lauded the remembrance event, adding that life had been tough without her husband.

"We did everything together ... and life has not been the same without him. He was a loving man and he treated me like his queen. Whenever there was a crisis he would reassure me that things would be fine," Siphokazi said.

"But without him my life has come to a standstill. I've been stuck in a place of safety and suffered episodes of depression and big sense of loss."

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