Addict teenager ‘killed by family, residents’ over clothes
UNEMPLOYED Philippi mother Busiswa Manono was hopeful that her drug addict son Asanda would finally turn his life around after spending time at a rehab facility.
Her worst nightmare came true on Tuesday when she was informed that the 18-year-old had been killed.
Manono had resorted to chaining her troubled son to a wall in her Browns Farm shack, as reported in the Cape Times in July, prompting officials to intervene and place him in a rehabilitation facility.
According to information the mom received, Asanda was killed by a mob, including relatives, in Lady Frere in the Eastern Cape.
He had spent five months at a rehab centre after his desperate mother chained him up, as community members bayed for his blood.
Asanda had survived a number of vigilante attacks after stealing anything he could find of value, including household items from his home and those of neighbours, to feed his addiction.
On Tuesday evening Manono and her husband, Andile Tukayi, received a call from relatives in Mkhaphusi Village in Lady Frere about their son being assaulted for stealing a relative's clothes.
“I spoke to one of my relatives and asked (for us) to sort this out as a family and they agreed,” Tukayi said. “He was taken to hospital and he returned home but one of the (family) members told me that the community said he must be killed because their kids were murdered for their wrong ways.”
Tukayi was advised to bring Asanda back to Cape Town.
“(A relative) phoned again saying he must be brought back to Cape Town because he does not know what the community is planning and he will not be able to prevent an angry mob from killing him.”
Later that night, Asanda was apparently taken to a container by residents and killed.
Tukayi said phone calls to relatives and neighbours went unanswered.
He was later informed that an ambulance had arrived and Asanda was declared dead.
Relatives, however, were afraid to give him any details for fear of community retaliation, Tukayi said.
An emotional Manono said that the last time she spoke to her son was before Christmas, when she sent him clothes and money for the festive season.
But Manono said she was able to sleep now without constantly worrying about Asanda's behaviour.
“After many times trying to help him change his life, when I had hope, he is now dead.
“(He was) killed by some people that I know from the village and family, killed for clothes,” she said.
Manono said she had sent her son to the Eastern Cape after he relapsed when he was in contact with friends he had used drugs with.
“I had to send him home after witnessing a person being torched here. I did not wish for that to happen to him.”