A young man whose mother was one of the sex workers who was murdered by convicted serial killer Sifiso Mkhwanazi killed himself. According to his sister, Pauline Chihota, the 21-year-old Mwari Chihota killed himself by consuming poison in December last year as he could not cope with losing their mother.
HAUNTED BY DEATH
Yarai Chihota, mother of five, was one of the six women raped and killed by convicted serial murderer and rapist MMkhwanazi,who was sentenced to six life terms and an additional 170-year imprisonment today.A teary Pauline told ZiMoja that her brother took his life because she, as the eldest child,couldn't give him what their mother used to give him. "So now there's only four of us left. I'm doing my best but it won't amount to what my mother was doing for all of us. I'm happy about the sentence, but unfortunately it won't bring back the dead. My mom won't come back," she said. Pauline said they prayed hard to God to make sure that Mkhwanazi gets life imprisonment.
Mwari Chihota commited suicide, a year after his mother's murder.
A HEAVY LOAD TO CARRY
Looking back on when their nightmare started, she said her mom went missing for about three weeks when they went to open a missing persons case. "The police later called to tell us that they had discovered six decomposed bodies at a makeshift workshop near Faraday. Days after that they called me and my siblings, saying they need DNA samples in order to verify if my mom was among the deceased." She explained that she described to the police that her mother had artificial teeth and tattooed eyebrows. After then we waited for six months to get confirmation that indeed my mom was part of the deceased. After receiving the news, my world turned upside down as I also wanted to kill myself, "she said. She said her mother was a responsible parent and raised them well. "I'm not ashamed to say that I was raised with money from sex work. It doesn't take away the respect that I had for my mother because she sacrificed herself to make sure that we had all we needed," she added.
