Buziwe Nocuze
Unathi Weba went out with friends on Tuesday night and hooked up with a man who later took him home.
But hours later, 22-year-old Unathi ended up dead, his body dumped outside a shack in Makhaza in Khayelitsha, Cape Town.
It is alleged that the man strangled Weba when he realised he was not a “girl”.
Then the man allegedly dragged the body to his neighbour’s shack, knocked and left it outside the door.
Ntombomzi Weba, the victim’s aunt, doesn’t believe that the suspect is telling the truth.
She told Scrolla.Africa that the man’s neighbours called the family in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
One of the deceased’s friends directed the family to the house of a man who left with Unathi the night before.
“We were shocked because he was acting lost, knowing what he did to Unathi,” she said. “So I went straight to him and asked why he killed him, but he didn’t say anything.”
While the suspect was still there, one of his family members told Unathi’s family that the suspect came to him around midnight asking for a wheelbarrow or a rubbish bin.
When the family member asked him what he needed it for, the man allegedly confessed that he had killed someone and needed to dispose of the body.
“I think the suspect killed Unathi because of his sexuality, not that he thought he was a girl. Maybe he planned this, but he must not lie,” said the aunt.
A community member who asked to remain anonymous said many straight men take gay guys home, especially at night.
“The problem starts when someone sees them with gay guys.”
Thando Mali who is also gay said: “We do not have a voice, and it is heartbreaking that gays continue losing their lives to people who thought they have a right to kill them.”
Harare police spokesperson Captain Siyabulela Vukubi confirmed that a 27-year-old man was arrested and charged with Unathi Weba’s murder.
