On Wednesday, however, their hopes were shattered after an anonymous call reported that a skeleton had been found in the backyard of a house where she was last seen alive.
Johannesburg - For more than two years, Palesa Madiba’s family clung to the hope that she would one day return home alive.
A human skull and bones stuck out of a shallow grave behind the home of Madiba’s friend, Tshidi Mkhwanazi, in Phiri, Soweto.
Large concrete tiles lay beneath the washing line next to the shallow grave.
Police officers moved in and out of the scene they had arrived at earlier that morning, after they received an anonymous call at Moroka police station around 8am. The caller said there was a skeleton buried in the house’s backyard.
When the police arrived, the paving was untouched and no digging had been done.
“We took our specialised (sniffer) dogs there, and once they confirmed there was a skeleton, we began digging,” said police spokesman Captain Tsekiso Mofokeng, adding that they couldn't confirm who the bones belonged to until they had run DNA tests.
Madiba, a University of Johannesburg student, was 20 years old when she was reported missing on August 13, 2013. Her family had last seen her on August 9, when she left to visit Mkhwanazi in Phiri, although she had lied to them and said she was going to visit her mother in Protea Glen, also in Soweto.
That weekend, according to Mkhwanazi, she and Madiba spent time in the house until they parted on the Monday when Mkhwanazi left for work. Allegedly, the last person to see Madiba alive was Mkhwanazi’s uncle, who lived in a back room.
Madiba had apparently given him the keys to the house as she headed to her 10am lecture at UJ’s Soweto campus.
After Madiba was reported missing, the uncle issued Madiba’s family with a restraining order after claiming they were harassing him. The uncle later moved out of the house.
Soon after she went missing, police and Madiba’s family launched a public campaign for tip-offs regarding her whereabouts. T-shirts were printed, posters pinned up and marches held in an effort to find her.
Police were sent on wild goose chases by false tip-offs that led to a woman who claimed to know where Madiba was. She was charged with defeating the ends of justice.
In Phiri on Wednesday, curious on-lookers stopped next to the house. Some expressed their grief and compassion at Madiba’s family.
Madiba’s mother and relatives were visibly devastated as they wailed outside. They later left the house in Phiri and returned to where Madiba lived.
Her aunt Mpho said the family were too distraught to speak.
“We are still trying to speak with other family members. We will only speak to the media after a family meeting. For now, we need our space to deal with the news. It is too soon.”
When they last spoke to The Star in August, Mpho said Madiba’s mother and sister were not coping.
“Her sister isn’t taking it well. She isn’t okay, just like her mother. I think Palesa’s absence became a reality over the weekend. I think reality is kicking in slowly now that it has been two years.
“We had lunch over the weekend as a family to remember her, and her mother wasn’t with us. She isn’t doing well,” Mpho said at the time.
The case was closed in April while police looked for further information.
Meanwhile, police sources said on Wednesday that the occupants of the house in Phiri had been moved to a place of safety. This, the sources said, was because the house was a crime scene and under 24-hour police guard.
There are also fears that angry residents could take the law into their own hands
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