Gay man mutilated and remains burnt
KwaNobuhle’s LGBTQI community in shock after horrific killing of Andile Ntuthela
A gay man’s mutilated and burnt remains have been discovered in a shallow grave, only a few paces from his alleged killer’s front door.
Described as a “drama queen”, always over the top and friendly with everyone, Andile Ntuthela’s horrific killing has left members of KwaNobuhle’s LGBTQI community reeling.
Their way of life, they say, is often met with a lot of prejudice in the community they live in.
Ntuthela’s bloodied clothes were found inside the suspect’s house in Matana Street, and according to family members, his alleged killer had been wearing Ntuthela’s cap when he made his first court appearance yesterday.
Police did not release the suspect’s name and members of the community only knew him by his first name, which could not be verified at the time of writing.
While the exact cause of death is not known, it appears that Ntuthela’s body was cut up into small pieces, before the suspect allegedly set it on fire.
“We know we are not safe. We only hang out with people that we know and trust because we know the prejudice we face,” his close friend, Sixolile Ndlondlo, said.
“Andile knew his [alleged] killer. They were friends.
“And for him to be killed like this and buried like an animal has us questioning who we can trust.”
Ntuthela, 41, had left his Relu Avenue home on Wednesday, March 31, to visit a friend.
His family said it was not unusual for him to stay over with friends, so when he did not return, they were not worried.
“So when Lulu [Ntuthela’s nickname] did not come home
over the Easter weekend, we thought nothing of it and we did not report it to the police,” his cousin, Asanda Ntuthela, 29, said.
A week passed and Asanda heard about a police raid at the suspect’s house.
They had allegedly received a tip-off about a body buried in
the yard, but an initial search found nothing.
Asanda was troubled by the story, because she knew the
suspect and knew he was her cousin’s good friend.
“On Saturday [April 10], I was at a shop nearby when I
overheard a conversation,” she said.
“Two guys said they [police] found ‘that gay guy’s body’ in the suspect’s yard.
“I immediately rushed to the scene, because somehow I knew it was Lulu.”
When she arrived at the house she saw a hole had been dug right outside a sliding door, at the front of the property.
Police were removing charred pieces of bone from the hole, but nothing resembled human remains.
“I asked the suspect’s family if they knew who was in the hole, and when I showed them a picture of my cousin, they were horrified,” Asanda said.
The picture she showed
them was taken the day he disappeared, and the suspect’s family had allegedly found the same clothing in their family member’s room, covered in blood.
Police spokesperson Captain Gerda Swart confirmed that sniffer dogs from the police’s K9 unit had searched the property in Matana Street at about 9.30am on Saturday.
“A badly burnt body was found in a deep hole on the premises.
“Further investigations revealed that the 28-year-old male suspect, who was already in custody in another case for malicious damage to property, was linked to the murder,” Swart said.
While the man appeared in the KwaNobuhle Magistrate’s Court yesterday for the damage to property charge, he is scheduled to appear on the murder charge today.
Asanda said she had heard all kinds of rumours about her cousin’s death.
“Then we heard stories that the suspect met Lulu at a club and brought him home for sex because he thought Lulu was a woman.
“Then when he found out Lulu was actually a man he killed him. But that is a lie.
“They knew each other. He was obviously a man, but he was also obviously gay,” Asanda said.
Ndlondlo said being gay was still stigmatised in their community.
She, herself, had been attacked on the street for being transsexual.
“That is why we are very careful who we spend time with.
“It can be really dangerous, especially in townships where people haven’t come to terms with gender fluidity,” she said.
“If this suspect did kill my friend, he betrayed Lulu’s trust in a horrific way.”
Asanda said she would always remember her cousin for his flamboyant and friendly manner, and for always making friends and trying to make everyone around him feel welcome and comfortable.
“He was our own little drama queen, always over the top and friendly with everyone,” she said.
The University of Fort Hare’s Prof Zethu Matebeni, SA’s first recipient of the South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI) chair in Sexualities, Genders and Queer Studies, said violence towards members of the LGBTQI community was still common in SA.
She said this was driven by a deep hatred of those who were not considered “normal” in society.
“This violence is prevalent in townships and it is not just about the township, it is about the prejudice and hatred that people have towards others.
“Sexual violence and murders of women as lesbian or heterosexual also happens in the townships and in other spaces.
“Women are murdered by their partners in their homes.
“Lesbians, gay and transgender people are similarly raped and murdered by people who know them, often in their communities.
“So this is not new or an anomaly,” Matebeni said.
She said despite Ntuthela “living [his] true self”, it did not mean other people accepted and appreciated him.
“As a society, particularly as African people, we have to learn that our experiences and lived realities are diverse.
“Our gender expression is not foreign.
“It is the very fabric of what makes us Africans,” Matebeni said.
“The kinds of hatred and stigma are perpetuated by different institutions we are part of — the churches, the schools, policing, among others.
“All these feed into the ways we regard others as un-African, foreign, and even ungodly.
“Almost all the cases we know of where this kind of violence and torture happens is based on familiarity.
“We need to ask different questions about the men who murder their partners, community members and children.
“They are the same ones who murder LGBTQI people.”