Daughter Tells South African Court She Begged Mother Not to Go Back for Missing Phone
A South African court heard emotional testimony this week from a daughter who said she begged her mother not to return to the home of. Daughter Tells South…
A South African court heard emotional testimony this week from a daughter who said she begged her mother not to return to the home of one of the accused while searching for a missing cellphone. The testimony came on Tuesday, Aug. 4, in the Mbombela High Court, where Bessie van der Merwe was the state’s main witness.
Van der Merwe told the court that the trouble began on a Friday, when her mother, Wanter Dlamini, phoned with what she described as exciting news. Dlamini said she had a surprise and asked her daughter to listen to who would be speaking, Van der Merwe testified. It was Nonhlanhla, who invited her to come and see her.
Van der Merwe said she drove to the gathering in high spirits, with loud music playing from her car. She recalled that Nonhlanhla met her outside before they joined Dlamini and three other people who were seated together.
Later that night, Steen Mashakeng allegedly arrived in paint-stained work clothes. Van der Merwe said she then left to go home, leaving her mother behind with her brother, sister, the second accused and Eunice.
Phone search turned fatal
The court heard that the situation changed just hours later. Van der Merwe testified that her mother’s phone had gone missing and that Dlamini wanted to go back to one of the accused’s home to look for it. That was when her daughter said she pleaded with her not to return.
Her account adds to a case that has drawn intense attention in Mbombela, where the court is trying to reconstruct the last moments before Dlamini disappeared. The hearing has centered on emotional evidence and the final phone calls that preceded her disappearance.
The details matter beyond one family. Across countries, missing-person cases often hinge on small, ordinary objects — a cellphone, a ride, a call that never comes. When those fragments are all a family has, each one can become crucial evidence.
Courtroom focus on the last calls
Van der Merwe’s testimony placed the court inside a narrow window of time: the invitation, the gathering, the departure, and the phone search that followed. The state is relying on her recollection as it seeks to piece together what happened that night.
The hearing is continuing, and the next testimony will likely test the same chain of events from a different angle. For Dlamini’s family, the unanswered question remains the same: what happened after she decided to look for her missing cellphone?
