SOWETO – A young mother who confided in her sister that she feared for her life is dead – along with her nine-month-old baby – in a case that has a grieving family calling for a formal investigation into what they believe are suspicious circumstances.
The bodies of Nasiphi Dutywa, 41, and her baby girl Ovayo were found in bed on 9 April by Nasiphi’s sister, Vuyiswa Dutywa. Vuyiswa had been summoned to the house by Nosiphi’s partner, a taxi driver with whom she lived. The family's grief is now compounded by a growing sense of unease and unanswered questions surrounding the deaths.
According to Vuyiswa, Nasiphi had expressed her discomfort with her partner, but declined to elaborate on her reasons, telling her sister: “The less you know the safer you are. I will tell you when I have moved out.” This chilling statement has fuelled the family's suspicion that Nasiphi may have been in danger.
The sisters had made plans for Nasiphi to move out of the Soweto home and move in with Vuyiswa on 10 April, the day after her body was discovered. This planned escape adds another layer of intrigue to the already tragic situation.
Vuyiswa told the Sunday Times that the day before the scheduled move, while she was at work, she received three calls from her sister’s boyfriend, whose name is known to the Sunday Times. He told her Nasiphi had wronged him and done something very bad, but declined to elaborate. Vuyiswa, occupied with clients, told him she would call him back at the end of the day. These cryptic calls have become a focal point of the family's concerns.
About 40 minutes later, he called her back, implied that he was going to call the police, and asked Vuyiswa to come to the house with her mother, as they needed a family intervention in what she understood to have been a conflict situation. This sudden shift in tone and the request for a family intervention raised immediate red flags for Vuyiswa.
Vuyiswa asked a work colleague skilled in mediation to accompany her, fetched her mother, and arrived at the Soweto address the boyfriend had pin-dropped to her. The scene that awaited her was one of unsettling calm.
“When I got there he was sitting on the couch in the lounge with a man who he said was his handyman. I asked him where Nasiphi and the baby were, and he said they were still in bed — this was now at about 2pm. The house was very quiet and so I started calling for Nasiphi and walking through to find her,” Vuyiswa said. The boyfriend's seemingly nonchalant demeanour and the eerie quiet of the house heightened her sense of dread.
She was shocked to find the bodies of her sister and her baby on the bed. The discovery has left an indelible scar on Vuyiswa and her family.
“I saw both their mouths and hands and feet were blue. And I called to him, ‘what has happened? What did you do? Nasiphi, wake up!’ And then I touched her back, and it was ice cold.” Vuyiswa's desperate pleas and the horrifying discovery paint a picture of unimaginable grief and shock.
Only at that point, on the insistence of Vuyiswa, did the boyfriend call the police and an ambulance, she said. This delay in calling for emergency services has further fuelled the family's suspicions.
According to the family, police who attended the scene did not wear gloves and immediately asked what Nasiphi had last eaten or had to drink. Yet, when shown a pot of cow heels on the stove and a discarded KFC container from food her boyfriend had bought for her the previous evening, they declined to take any of it for checking. No container of poison was found in the house. The family believes this lack of thoroughness at the scene is indicative of a flawed investigation.
“When we questioned them on their actions, they became quite aggressive and rude with us, telling us to stop trying to play mini detectives,” Vuyiswa said. The family's frustration with the police response is palpable.
The bodies were taken to the mortuary and released to the Dutywa family after almost two weeks, a period marked by anguish and uncertainty.
“The police have not communicated anything to us. But when we went to fetch the bodies, my mom was given an autopsy report that said the cause of death was “poison ingestion, specifically halephirimi/alupirin ”— a highly toxic, illegal pesticide most commonly identified as Terbufos, often used to kill rats. The autopsy report has only deepened the mystery surrounding the deaths.
The day before Nasiphi and her baby were buried, their bodies, clothing, and the bedding on which they were lying when they died were given to her mother, in accordance with cultural traditions.
“In our culture, it is custom for the mother of a deceased to wash the body, clothes and bedding as her way of saying goodbye. So my mom and her sister, who is a very experienced nurse, took care of that. And they saw that Nasiphi’s pyjamas were completely clean and the sheet they were on was fresh and ironed. There was nothing to show that they had been poisoned — no vomit or sweat, no soiling of her clothes,” Vuyiswa said. This observation casts doubt on the poison ingestion theory, further complicating the investigation.
Neo Mothale, a friend of Nasiphi, has since stepped in to assist the family and told the Sunday Times that she is helping them with their request for a formal, high-level investigation and will also help them file a case with the Independent Police Investigative Directorate and explore the possibility of a civil prosecution. Mothale's involvement underscores the family's determination to seek justice.
Mothale has documents showing that Nasiphi had lodged a maintenance claim against her sister’s boyfriend, and confirmation from a registered social worker that Nosphi had been an “in-house beneficiary” at a women’s shelter in Krugersdorp last October. These details suggest a history of conflict and potential vulnerability in Nasiphi's life.
Gauteng police spokesperson Col Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi said an inquest docket was still open and under investigation. “Postmortem results are still outstanding, and once the investigation is finalised, the matter will be referred to inquest court for decision. The family has been kept abreast with the investigation.” However, the family disputes this claim, stating that they have received little to no communication from the police.
Repeated attempts to reach the boyfriend for comment were unsuccessful as he did not respond to calls or text messages. His silence has only intensified the family's suspicions and their resolve to uncover the truth behind Nasiphi and Ovayo's tragic deaths. The quest for answers continues, fuelled by grief, unanswered questions, and a desperate hope for justice.
