SmilingSouth

‘This was a child of your own town,’ Makhanda leaders told

By Sue Maclennan

A double burial in Makhanda last Saturday marked three weeks of anguish since Eastcape Midlands College (EMC) student Anele Kampu was found dead in her boyfriend’s room. Her father, Zalisile Kampu, died a week after hearing of his daughter’s death and they were buried side by side at Mayfield Cemetery last weekend. Fellow students and staff marched with the family through town in a protest against gender based violence and gathered in a moving tribute at Fingo Square on Friday 5 November.

Makhanda student Anele Anita Kampu was enrolled in her second year of a National Certificate in Vocational Tourism, Level 3, at Eastcape Midlands College (EMC) and around 300 students, staff members, family and friends gathered for the candlelight memorial at Fingo Square in Makhanda on the eve of the double funeral and burial. Tourism lecturer Wanda Makeleni was among the first to speak and he described Anele as colourful, vibrant and intelligent.

EMC Stakeholder Manager Mike Sideba, on behalf of the College, spoke of the terrible cost of her death – not only to the lives of her family, friends and fellow students, but to the town.

“The leadership of Makhanda is here and you should know that this college belongs to the community of Makhanda,” he said. “We have lost not only a daughter, sister and friend, but a potential developer of Makhanda.” Students were not only young people with dreams, families and futures, but valuable assets for the town and its future, Sideba said.

Makhanda born and raised, Anele attended Ntaba Maria Primary School and Kutliso Daniels Secondary School before enrolling at Eastcape Midlands College. Born in 2000, she was 21.

“The leadership of Makhanda must know that this was a child of your own town,” Sideba said.

His address followed a call by Makana councillor and ANC Makana Subregion Chairperson Mabhuti Matyumza to revive Men’s Forums, and for men to stand up and say, “not in our name”.

The EMC SRC’s Gender and Transformation Officer, Joleen Arries, said, “Anele Kampu was killed while she was working to achieve her dreams. It’s time to stand together against gender based violence and not allow another innocent life to be taken.”

Fellow Tourism student Asiphenati Ngesi delivered a moving poem.

“I am so broken,” she said afterwards.

But for the close to 300 gathered there, even those heartfelt words were cold comfort as they absorbed the terrible events of the past three weeks.

Around 50 members of staff and students had marched from EMC’s Makhanda campus in St Aidan’s Avenue to Fingo Square in Raglan Road, where others joined the moving tribute.

On Saturday 23 October, Anele’s lifeless body was found in her boyfriend’s M Street room. Anele’s father collapsed when he heard the news. A week later he died of a stroke.

Anele’s heartbroken mother, Nomonde, sobbed as tributes flowed for her daughter.

Speaking quietly at the edge of the gathering, Anele’s elder sister Bongiwe said, “My sister was kind and loving. She was a people’s person, so very humble. She was a sweet girl – she didn’t deserve what happened to her.

“Today, I wish this is the last time we are gathering for this. Over and over, we must mourn someone who has died because of gender based violence. And now it is my own sister.

“She didn’t deserve this.”

Police confirmed that a case of murder was opened on 23 October 2021 and Anele’s boyfriend was named as the only suspect.

“His mother went to her son’s outside room to fetch his washing. When she knocked and got no response, she opened the door,” said police spokesperson Sergeant Majola Nkohli.

In front of her lay Anele’s lifeless body. There were noticeable injuries on her upper body. She was declared dead on the scene and a case of murder was opened.

“But the suspect was nowhere to be found,” said Nkohli.

Six days later, on 29 October, the 22-year-old man handed himself in at Joza Police Station. His first court appearance was on 2 November. The next day he was granted bail of R1000.

“The case was postponed for further investigation and his next appearance is on 10 December,” Nkohli said.

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