Shock as man points out girlfriend's shallow grave

For three months, the family of Nokulunga Mbatha had been in contact with her alleged killer who stuffed her body in a suitcase before burying it in a shallow grave but he apparently denied knowledge of her whereabouts.

Police believe Nokulunga, 21, was murdered by her boyfriend who later put her body in a suitcase and buried her in Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga, in March.

Provincial police spokesperson Col Mtsholi Bhembe told Sowetan that Nokulunga's badly decomposed body was found on June 22, after Kevin Ndlovu, 21, confessed to his mother about the murder.

"His mother started questioning him about his short temper and behaviour and the accused confessed to having killed his girlfriend by hitting her with a sharp object and burying her in the yard in their village home," Bhembe said.

He said Ndlovu took his mother to the place where he pointed out the shallow grave and police were contacted.

Ndlovu was then arrested.

He appeared briefly in the Mhala magistrate's court yesterday and his bail application was postponed to July.

Nokulunga's grandmother Mavis Mbatha told Sowetan that her granddaughter left Johannesburg, where the family lives, on February 2, saying she was going to visit Ndlovu in Bushbuckridge.

Mbatha, who is originally from KwaZulu-Natal, and Ndlovu had two children together.

"This is very shocking. This boy told us that he doesn't know where my granddaughter is," said a sobbing Mbatha.

"When we called his mother saying Nokulunga told us that she was visiting him (Ndlovu) she denied that she ever arrived in her home.

"On Saturday, I got a call from her, saying they had found Nokulunga but she was dead because Kevin killed her. I nearly died.

"This boy has been denying that my granddaughter arrived at his house yet he knew that he killed and buried her and then came to Johannesburg. He is very cruel," said Mbatha.

Mbatha said Nokulunga's brother will have to do a DNA test to help identify her decomposed body.