Father's heartfelt plea for justice after daughter’s brutal murder by gang members

Nobody deserves to die like that."

These are the words of the grief-stricken father of a Gugulethu woman who was strangled to death and dumped in a wheelie bin, allegedly by members of the Hard Livings gang. 

Months after the horrific murder which rocked Manenberg, the father of Khuselwa Ntshanga has spoken out, calling on the court to keep the alleged killers behind bars as the family struggles to come to grips with her death. 

The body of the 29-year-old woman, known as Coco, was discovered on March 6 as commuters walking along Duinefontein Road, across the canal, saw the legs of the woman inside the bin as the rubbish was removed.

As police photographers arrived on the scene, the body was removed and this is when cops discovered Ntshanga's body. 

On the same day, Sergeant Daryl van Noie retraced her movements and discovered that she was last seen alive at a property in Hurricane Street.

Police descended on the house which is reportedly run as a drug den for the Hard Livings gang and busted the home owner Denver Paulse.

To date police have arrested Paulse, Shaheem van Schalkwyk, Zubair Moses, Nizaam Caesar and Logan Bloys for the murder. 

The determined detective also recovered the rope used to strangle her and it was discovered that the Hard Livings gang suspected her of being a spy for the Fancy Boys gang and even set her on fire before dumping the bin in the canal.

Dad, Mbuyiselo Ntshanga, 59, says he will never forget the day he was called to inform him that his child had been murdered. 

As the family arrived on the scene, her body had already been removed and they arrived at the police station where they were informed of the horrific details.

Ntshanga was buried a week later at Maitland Cemetery as police hunted down the alleged killers. 

The heartbroken father says: "We were and still are shocked at the way she died. As the case unfolds we have learnt of the disturbing details and we are devastated. Nobody deserves to die like that." 

He shared that his daughter struggled with a drug addiction for many years and various interventions by the family failed. 

"It started in high school with cigarettes and later she started using drugs. We found out and immediately took action.

"She didn't want to go to rehab but we moved her to Johannesburg where she was completing her studies and was doing quite well.

"We later learnt that she had a boyfriend who sells drugs and she was brought back to Cape Town and was again doing very well until she got involved with these gangsters."

The case has been postponed to May 23 as all the accused have abandoned their bail applications.

Cape Argus