The only thing that holds back the tears Marianne Kortjie desperately needs to cry after both her children were killed is her determination to find their killers.
No-one has been arrested for killing her 17-year-old daughter, Kiesha, or her 21-year-old son, Justin. Kortjie, from Wingfield in Cape Town, said she has been so busy trying to trace the culprits, she has been unable to mourn her children.
“I don’t know what is going to happen to me the day when I will be able to grieve,” said Kortjie, adding that she has been afraid to call Lesley Wyngaard, who has set up a support group for bereaved mothers.
If she had, she would know that Wyngaard, from Southfield, has a similar story to tell. Her 23-year-old son, Rory, was killed in Mitchells Plain in 2015. The criminal justice system has failed to put anyone behind bars for the crime.
Wyngaard and Avril Andrews, another mother whose child was killed, started a support group, Moms Move for Justice.
“When mommies go through stuff like the justice system failing them, I can help them,” said Wyngaard.
“It helps me to heal by helping others to heal. It’s part of my healing journey to make a difference in other people’s lives.”
The group’s focus has since expanded, and in December it hosted a camp for boys from the gang-plagued Cape Flats suburbs of Hanover Park and Mitchells Plain.
“If you look around, it’s all young boys who are shooting. We are pulling in the younger boys and then we are going to get role models to speak to them,” said Andrews.
Rory Wyngaard was due to start a new job as a manager at Cotton On at the Waterfront in November 2015, and was 18 months into a relationship with the woman of his dreams.
But at a friend’s 21st birthday party at a Mitchells Plain nightclub he witnessed a crime. His mother believes he was murdered to silence him.
“The next morning we got a phone call from a major at the police station to say that Rory is dead. Just like that, cold, Rory is dood,” said Wyngaard.
“We went through to Mitchells Plain hospital. They told us we need to come identify the body. You are crying all the way to the hospital and then while we were driving the song by Michael Jackson, Gone Too Soon, came on. I’ll never forget that song.”
3,974 - Reported killings in the Western Cape in 2018/2019
1,511 - Killings classified as 'gang-related'
1,068 - Contact-related crimes reported in 2018/2019 at Mitchells Plain police station, the worst in the country in this category
— IN NUMBERS
Wyngaard said a man was arrested and charged with her son’s murder but he escaped from custody, crucial evidence disappeared from the docket and the case was eventually withdrawn.
“There were close to 40 appearances over a 3½-year period just for Rory’s case to be dismissed,” she said.
Like Wyngaard, Kortjie said she believes Kiesha was murdered after witnessing a crime. Justin was killed at a ceremony to turn on Cape Town city centre’s Christmas lights in December 2018.
The social worker claims to have evidence that might implicate her son’s friends in his death but the police have been unable to make progress in the investigation.
“The police didn’t do their job in Kiesha’s case and now it’s happening with Justin. They have all this info but they don’t do anything with it,” she said.
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