Slain University of Cape Town (UCT) first-year student Cebo Mhleli Mbatha’s father is trying to get his son’s body their home town of Dundee in Northern Kwazulu-Natal for his burial.
The 19-year-old first year humanities student was stabbed in the chest on Clifton 3rd beach in Cape Town on Saturday night in an apparent robbery.
Linda Mbatha, 50, said he was trying to hold the funeral on Saturday in Dundee, from where the family originates. Mbatha said he is trying very hard to get the body back home to Dundee but since he was now in a private mortuary, it could be highly likely.
Cebo’s father said that his family, especially Cebo’s two younger sisters, aged 15 and nine, and his mother, had been left devastated in the wake of the horrific news which broke at the weekend.
“We are trying, we are coping, although it is not easy for us as a family since this thing came as a shock and tragedy. But at the end of the day we must ensure that we take the body where it is supposed to go.”
Mbatha said he was told that there were quite a few high school pupils at the beach that day and Cebo had been with his friends a distance away, making them possible vulnerable targets.
Elijah Moholola,UCT’s spokesperson confirmed the news, adding that one of Mbatha’s friends was stabbed in the leg, while the other two female students managed to escape unscathed.
He said all three surviving students were given counselling as they “experienced severe shock and trauma from this terrible ordeal”.
Police are investigating a case of murder and no arrests have been made.
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