Two UJ students arrested for the murder of Soweto schoolboy

Bernard Biyela, the father of a Soweto teenager who was killed allegedly by a group of University of Johannesburg (UJ) students on Tuesday, said breaking the news of his son’s death to the teen’s mother was the most difficult thing he has ever done.

Cebo Biyela,18, a grade 10 pupil from Musi High School in Pimville, was brutally murdered after a scuffle broke out between his schoolmates and five UJ students who had allegedly harassed them and taken away their beanies while on their way home after school. 

“I didn’t even know how to put it in words that her son had passed on,” Biyela said.

“But when she asked how he died, that was the most unbearable part because I did not want to tell her about the state I found him in. I just told her he was killed by a group of UJ boys on his way back from school.”

According to eyewitnesses, the UJ students had been drinking in a room at Makentshe student accommodation in Power Park before they were chased away and sat outside on the grass. They then got into a school bus which had stopped to drop off pupils and allegedly demanded that the driver give them a lift to a nearby tavern. 

Ward committee member Scebiso Masondo said the students started harassing and provoking the learners in the bus, snatching away some of their beanies. 

He said the driver managed to kick the UJ students out of the bus and drove off. However, some of the pupils got off 3km from the residence and went back to the students. “They regrouped and went back to get their hats,” said Masondo. “That’s when this boy [Cebo] was beaten with a baseball bat and hit with empty beer bottles. He was then stabbed and his throat slit open.”

The Makentshe Student Accommodation residence caretaker apprehended one of the students and handed him over to traffic wardens.

Biyela said his family was shattered.

“As a family, we are torn apart. Cebo was a quiet boy. We never had problems with him. Telling his mother about how he died was the most unbearable thing to happen to a parent.” 

He said when he arrived at the spot where Cebo was murdered, his son's  body was covered in blood and had bruises on his face. His throat was cut open, and there were stab wounds all over his upper body. 

Police spokesperson Maj-Gen Nonhlanhla Kubheka said two suspects, aged 19 and 24, will appear at the Lenasia magistrate’s court soon to face a charge of murder. “The motive behind the incident is not yet known. Police investigations are continuing,” Kubheka said.

Education department spokesperson Steve Mabona said they“ extend our deepest condolences to the learner’s family and the school community at large, during this difficult period”. 

UJ spokesperson Lebogang Seale confirmed that two students were in police custody. “The incident happened off campus at a privately-owned student accommodation in the township. UJ wishes to state on record that it condemns in the strongest terms possible any acts of violence and intimidation,” he said.

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