Years of pain and sorrow follow wife’s killing in ‘broad daylight’
NINE years after the brutal murder of his wife, a KwaZuluNatal mayor is still hopeful that someone will come forward with information leading to the killer.
Pietermaritzburg gynaecologist Sabera Bhamjee, 55, was found with multiple stab wounds in her consulting room on June 2 2006. No one has been arrested in connection with the murder.
Her husband, Umgungundlovu district mayor Yusuf Bhamjee, said that as long as the murder was unsolved, there could be no closure for him and his two daughters.
“We remain devastated. Ev- ery day, especially on special family occasions, we are reminded of this gruesome and horrendous murder. Everyone loved and cherished her. She had a very gentle but sophisticated nature and knew how to make us all feel happy. She was taken in the prime of her life. She delivered hundreds of babies and gave advice to many young parents. She was looking forward to having grandchildren that she never got to see.
“Her murder happened in broad daylight. The person may have worked alone, but someone knows something. No one has come forth. This case remains open. I still contact the police at least once in two months to see if there has been any developments,” said Bhamjee.
He said they felt hopeful but also had a sense of despair with the process.
“There are other people who are in the same situation as I am. With the work I’m involved in I have seen gruesome murders, but when it happens to you it just numbs you. It devastates you and is something you cannot get out of your mind.” BRIGHT STUDENT: Inge Lotz was doing a master’s degree MARCH 16 will be the 10th anniversary of Stellenbosch University student Inge Lotz’s death — and her father continues to search for her murderer.
Jan Lotz, a professor of radiology at the university, has blamed shoddy detective work for the failure to catch the killer.
In 2007, two years after Inge, 22, was found dead in her flat in Stellenbosch, her boyfriend, Fred van der Vyver, was acquitted of her murder by the High Court in Cape Town.
“Police were just completely helpless,” said Lotz. “People tell me there were more than 20 people inside her flat coming to look at her corpse. Even the murderer could have come back to have a look, because police BOYFRIEND: Fred van der Vyver at the time of his trial didn’t secure the crime scene.”
He offered a R1-million reward for information about her death, hired a retired physics professor to reconstruct the murder scene and in 2013 unsuccessfully asked the National Prosecuting Authority to reinstate charges against Van der Vyver.
Eric Ntabazalila of the NPA in the Western Cape said the police and prosecutors had “endeavoured to follow all other avenues of investigation” but failed.
“It is not considered that there are any other suspects outstanding. No further investigation is required,” he said.
But Lotz has vowed to continue until he looks the murderer in the eyes. — Philani Nombembe ON August 18 1949, Samuel Ngibisa Mabela was walking through the Birdhaven plantation in Illovo, Johannesburg, when he came across a frightening sight.
In the middle of a field lay the body of a young girl. That girl was 18-year-old Bubbles Schroeder, who had been missing for 30 hours, ever since she had been dropped off after drinking with friends.
Her murder remains one of South Africa’s highest-profile unsolved cases.
A pathologist found that she had been strangled from behind, probably with a scarf or something similar. Limestone had been shoved down her throat, possibly after her death.
The two men with whom she had been drinking were arrested about two months later. But with little to link them to the crime, and with the police’s evidence being mostly circumstantial, they were released.
To this day, speculation continues about the murder. — Matthew Savides