Before Anene died, she named one of her attackers as "Zwai". Now rumours are rife that police have the wrong man.
|||Bredasdorp - It wasn’t me. That was the vehement response from each of two men from Zwelitsha township in Bredasdorp, both with the same nickname as one of the men held in connection with the brutal gang rape, mutilation and murder of teenager Anene Booysen.
Racial tension is running high in the town, as coloured residents struggle to make sense of the vicious murder, with some refusing to believe that “one of our own” would have done it.
While family of Jonathan Davids, nicknamed “Zwai”, are convinced that police have arrested the wrong man, several others have jumped on the bandwagon, pointing fingers at a black man from a local township, with the same nickname, who they allege is the “real” perpetrator.
Booysen, 17, was left for dead at a housing construction site near her home a month ago. Before she died in hospital, she named one of her attackers as “Zwai”.
Since then the sleepy Overberg town has been abuzz, with rumours rife that the police got the wrong man.
The case was postponed this week to April 22 after magistrate Graeme Cupido refused Davids bail. Davids and his co-accused, Johannes Kana, are the only two arrested for the murder, although Booysen said on her deathbed that five or six other men were involved.
This week residents told Weekend Argus there was another “Zwai” living in the township about 100m from where the teenager lived.
It took Weekend Argus minutes to trace two other men, both from Zwelitsha township, and both named Zwai – but both spelt “Zway”.
Builders by trade, both have the first name Mzwandile.
They were adamant they were not involved in the murder, and the one the residents had implicated said he was shocked that his name was being mentioned.
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I did not know that girl,” he said, adding that police had questioned him earlier this week about the case.
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They wanted to know where I was on February 2 when Anene was killed,” he said, adding that he told them he was working, returning home at 5pm.
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I was dropped off at the Windmeul pub where we bought a bottle of Old Brown Sherry. We went home, drank wine, listened to music and watched DVDs for the entire night.”
His live-in girlfriend, who is also the mother of his daughter, had been with him all night.
“I know nothing about it,” he said in Afrikaans.
“It wasn’t me. I was home.”
The 32-year-old suggested that it was not unusual for someone accused of a crime to try to blame someone else.
“I may be a drinker, but I do not go to that pub,” he added.
Of what happened to Anene, he said:
“It’s wrong, very wrong, what happened to that girl.”
Zway’s 46-year-old girlfriend, who did not want to be named, confirmed they were together on the night of the murder, and said she was shocked that people were trying to implicate him.
The second Zway told Weekend Argus he worked for the same construction company building at the site where Anene’s body was dumped. But he said he was in Tygerberg Hospital from December into late January, then came home to recover.
This week he was at home, still with a catheter inserted in his side.
Pointing to the tube inserted into his bladder, the elderly man denied any involvement.
“I’ve been suffering from severe kidney problems, and am in constant pain,” he said in Afrikaans.
“Since I’m back, I’ve only been at home. I don’t drink and only smoke cigarettes. I don’t know that girl or her family,” he added.
Meanwhile, the family of the accused “Zwai” say the police did not question the other men, nor did they take DNA samples.
Anene’s brother Ryno Booysen acknowledged the talk about “the other Zwai”, and questioned why police had waited so long to speak to him.
“I need to know why my sister was killed in this way. Why she was hurt so bad? I just don’t understand it,” he said.
He said he had known Davids since childhood, and was having a hard time accepting he would hurt Anene.
“I know Davids as a very heavy drinker.
“He drinks himself into a stupor and when he’s in a drunken state he normally gets smacked around by everybody, but I do not know him as one to retaliate or use violence,” he said.
Weekend Argus