Relatives of 10-year-old Lihle Zenzile Tuesday gathered in
the home where her body had been found in a white trunk in her parents’ bedroom
the Friday night before.
A distant cousin, Ayabulela Zenzile (18), who lived in the
same house in Lazola Street, Mbekweni, would later hand himself over to police
and confess to her murder.
This was confirmed by police spokesperson WO Nceba Vanqa.
“The suspect, Ayabulela Zenzile, appeared in Paarl Magistrates’ Court on Monday
on a charge of murder,” he said.
Although a missing person’s case was not formally opened,
Vanqa said the community was on the lookout for Zenzile. Police went to inspect
the family’s residence.
“Her body was found only after the suspect had come along
and confessed to the killing. The body was found in a trunk [kist], under some
clothes, inside the house.”
One of her relatives whom Lihle referred to as “ouma”, Sanna
Tiso, told Paarl Post her last known whereabouts was at her friend’s home,
close to her own.
“Her mother was working a shift at Checkers, while her
father had taken another child to hospital,”
she said. “We suspect she may have returned home to wash-up late on
Friday afternoon.”
The family can only speculate what happened next, since the
suspect was the only person at home at the time of Lihle’s disappearance.
“We think he strangled her while she was bathing and then
stashed her body in that trunk,” said Tiso. “He pretended not to know where she
was, all the while stashing her body in this very house!”
Asked how little Lihle would be remembered elicited almost a
ripple of remembrance among her aunts.
“Oh she was so cute,” one aunt exclaimed. Tiso said even
Lihle’s friends’ parents cried rivers when they received the tragic news.
“She was always laughing, bright and friendly,” she said. “A good child who was always kind,
willing and helpful, with her soft nature.”
Significant for Tiso is that Lihle had given her heart to
God in the days leading up to her death.
“Isn’t it something?… that this little child, in front
of all the elders in the church, went down on her knees and gave her heart to
Jesus Christ? It’s almost as if she knew she may meet Him in heaven.”
The suspect, originally from Johannesburg, had moved to his
relatives in Mbekweni.
By some accounts he had never finished school and came to
Paarl seeking opportunities for work.
Lihle’s funeral is planned for Sunday and the family said
her burial might take place at the Klein Parys Cemetery.
