Biological mother of snatched baby dies before seeing the abductor jailed, 22 years on

The strain of a court case involving her abducted firstborn child two decades after the crime, and their fractured relationship after the truth came out, proved too much for a Mpumalanga mother who died a week before her daughter's kidnapper was sentenced.

This is according to the family of Ntombentsha Manana, 39, who died on Tuesday last week.

On Wednesday, Bawinile Lusenga was sentenced to five years imprisonment by the Ermelo regional court for kidnapping.

Lusenga, 52, pleaded guilty to snatching Manana's eldest child, now known as Thulisile Lusenga, in 2001.

She was arrested on November 29 2021 after Thulisile's biological younger brother Senzo spotted Thulisile's picture on Facebook and remarked how she looked like his mother. They went to the police and a DNA test was done, which revealed Thulisile was Manana's daughter.

Daynamoyo Manana, Ntombentsha's mother, told TimesLIVE her daughter had been suffering physically and emotionally. 

The strain of the lengthy court case and troubled relationship with Thulisile influenced her daughter's state of mind, she said, adding it was all Ntombentsha would talk about in her last days.

“On Sunday, when I came home from church, she complained her blood pressure was high. So we realised this had something to do with the things on her mind, some of which she spoke about and others which she didn't. Because Thulisile would post things that would hurt her mother, but Ntombentsha would keep quiet about most of it. She'd sometimes tell us about these posts.

“Two days later, her son and younger daughter went to check up on her and found she couldn't get up from the bed and had no strength.

“She died in their arms,” her mother recalled.

Ntombentsha was buried on Saturday.

Daynamoyo confirmed Thulisile was with the family for a few days after hearing of her mother's death before leaving to return to work.

TimesLIVE