‘Please don’t share pictures of my dead sister’s body’

“We are still trying to organise counselling for the family. We would like people to stop sending pictures of her dead body, it’s really cruel to do that, she is naked and covered in blood and no one deserves to see their loved one like that.”

Those are the words of Thabo, Busisiwe Ngwadla’s brother. The 37-year-old mother was found by neighbours lying in a pool of blood in front of her bathroom door at the Emerald Sky Flats in Amalinda in East London last week.

According to relatives, she was in a long-term relationship with a businessman who commutes between East London and Cape Town.

The man apparently disappeared after Ngwadla was killed.

As her family battles to come to terms with her slaying, a picture of her lifeless and naked body was circulating on social media last week.

“We are still mourning and this picture is all over the country. Her son has not been to school ever since this happened. People are sending this picture of her dead body around and we do not know how we can make this stop. It is too insensitive at this time,” Thabo said. “Things have been hard at home, it’s a terrible situation to be in. My parents and siblings are not coping at the moment.”

The family of the slain East London business woman believes the police are conducting their investigation at a snail’s pace. They say the man believed to have killed Ngwadla was spotted walking free in Cape Town.

Neighbours at the block of flats told the Daily Dispatch they had overheard the couple having a heated argument on Tuesday. The neighbours claimed to have spotted blood on the man’s T-shirt before he was seen “rushing out” of the apartment block in a fresh top.

A voice recording of a man purportedly confessing to killing a woman he was in a relationship with is being investigated by police.

Relatives believe the recording is that of the man confessing to killing Ngandlwa.

However, police spokesperson Captain Nkosikho Mzuku said they they were giving the case the urgency it deserved.

“We understand the family’s pain but divulging the details of the case to the media might jeopardise our investigation.

“We would like the family to understand that police are still busy with investigations and we cannot disclose certain information.”

But Thabo said it did not feel like that.

“There is no direction from the police. The investigating officer called and told us that they were searching for the boyfriend.

“Someone has sent us a message through social media that the guy has been seen roaming around in Gugulethu – he has not been arrested.

“Someone has even sent us his new number. My sister died on Tuesday last week... it’s been a week, yet there are no arrests when it is so clear who the main suspect is,” he said.

It’s been a week, and there are no arrests, yet it is so clear who the main suspect is Thabo Ngwadla