He died over a bottle of alcohol

Zukiswa Ntoyana, 49, is the mother of Zolani, 23, who died tragically last week after being stoned on the head and stabbed in the stomach by three girls aged 17 to 20 after he mistakenly spilt a bottle of alcohol. She says her heart is torn and she cannot accept it because she is questioning what she has done because this is not the first time she has tragically lost a child.

She says that her firstborn son was stabbed near the Waterfront in Cape Town in 2018. She recalls how she was abruptly informed to go identify her firstborn son, just like last week. Again, she was summoned to identify a body and was surprised to see that it was in fact her son Zolani.

“Oh, what did I do to offend God? I worked so hard to raise these children, and now I’m losing them like this! I was delighted at the thought of finally having helpers. I have three children—two sons and my daughter, who is the only one still alive. I put a lot of work into raising these children by myself, taking them through school and sending them to initiation school alone. Like Zolani, who died at the age of 23, his brother was also killed when he was 23,” said Zolani’s mother, Zukiswa.

She says that her son allegedly died asking for forgiveness from the girls when he realised they were killing him. Zolani was beaten outside a tavern where they were drinking in Site C.

Zolani’s body landed in the Eastern Cape on Tuesday this week. On Saturday, there will be a funeral service for him in Marobastart township, Indwe.

There was a memorial service for Zolani on Sunday, according to Mabhuti Siko, the community leader of Site C in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, where Zolani was killed.

According to Siko, they are equally horrified by the murder of Zolani by these girls. He says that GBV is always viewed from one perspective, thus people are startled by these young women committing such a heinous crime. He added that the fact that they beat him up because he unintentionally spilled beer is much worse.

Another suspect (17) showed up in court on Tuesday this week in Khayelitsha, according to the report; two of them are being kept hidden by their parents. They have not turned themselves in to the police, and it is unclear where they are.

One of the three suspects apologised on her Facebook page, admitting that she is likewise unsure of what transpired to cause them to kill the victim.