The horrific death of 'everbody's child' Tazlin Lucas is an indictment of our failing, uncaring, heartless state

style="font-weight: 400;">floods, fire, everyday hunger, and heart-stopping violent crime.

Then the children found what they thought was a doll. 

Community leader Zama Mona is a tall, stoic man, easily recognisable by his favourite flat cap and his calm manner. Mona has been keeping his community together for decades, but even he can’t keep the emotion out of his voice as he recounts the bitter day on 24 July when children called him to say they found a burnt doll. 

In Airport Valley there is a row of government houses in the area called Marikana abandoned by the construction company in 2016. These have now become the stronghold for drug addicts and gangs and are the bane of the close-knit Marikana community’s life.

But the children of the area also use the abandoned houses during the day time “to play house”. And it was here that they found “the doll”. 

Only it wasn’t a doll. It was an 8-year-old girl who had been burnt almost beyond recognition.

“The children first called one of the mothers and then they came to me and they said there is a big doll in one of the houses. But it was Tazlin,” Mona said.

The police arrived at 5pm. The community immediately knew who the little girl was. Tazlin Lucas. The clever and quick-moving little social butterfly who would watch television here, have a meal there, and would walk far to Mama Julia’s soup kitchen for food. Everybody’s child.

But Tazlin was never reported missing even though the last time anyone saw her was on Friday, 21 July, when one of the gogos in the neighbourhood gave her a bowl of noodles and a cup of tea and let her watch some television. She then said she was going home.

Marikana in Airport Valley is an area that floods regularly. People live in emergency housing provided more than a decade ago – a small Afrikaans-speaking community in the middle of the Xhosa-speaking Walmer Township but one that is loved and treasured as everyone fights against poverty.

When the police came to fetch her body, community members said they found her arms were broken. She was only wearing a black pair of pants. A few metres from where she was found, was the site marking the death of a Somali man, who was found hanging from a roof beam a few weeks before. All the community will tell you is that he didn’t hang himself. 

Tazlin was lying next to a broken brick and a cut-off drain pipe. A black plastic rubbish bag covered part of her body. A plastic bottle and broken roof tiles were littered around her body.

Mama Julia Mbambo, who runs the Walmer Angels soup kitchen where Tazlin would come for meals, and her sister Sommi Olwethu rushed to the family’s side to help.

“My heart is shaken,” Mbambo, who is normally as tough as nails, said as the tears rolled down her face. “I think I have only seen Julia cry twice before,” said Glenda Brunette, who founded Walmer Angels. 

Olwethu said the local funeral director, Matthew Gqirana from Gqirana Funerals, offered to bury Tazlin at no cost. But later in the week the Nelson Mandela Bay metro offered to cover the costs. Taxi drivers arrived to transport mourners for free. An all-female squad of traffic officers offered to escort the funeral procession to Tazlin’s final resting place. 

Tazlin’s teachers from Lower Walmer Primary School confirmed that she and her mom were referred for social work interventions last year but that it hadn’t worked. Her twin brothers, from another father, were removed from the house and placed in the care of their paternal grandmother. But Tazlin remained with her mom until the Friday before her death.

“We want this child to be seen,” said Luke Lamprecht, the head of advocacy for Women and Men against Child Abuse. “This was a life.”

Ward councillor Nozuko Mavis Mbambo said they wanted a viewing of Tazlin’s body for everyone to say goodbye but there was too much damage. “We decided it would be best to keep the coffin closed.”

On 27 July teachers and the School Governing Body of the Lower Walmer Primary School sent out a message to learners and parents: 

“Please keep our children in your hearts and minds 💛🤗One of our gr2 girls was raped and murdered this past weekend. The school is in shock 😢 This should not happen to our innocent children 🤗 I’ve shared our condolences with the Staff and Governing Body.”

On the evening of 27 July, the community came together in prayer.

On 2 August about 100 learners from Lower Walmer Primary and another primary school in the area, John Masiza Primary, held a peaceful protest at the Walmer Police Station to call for their friend’s killer to be brought to book.

A few hours later a 32-year-old man was arrested in connection with Tazlin’s rape and murder. 

“The community found him first,” Mona said. “They were busy with him when a security firm called the police. He confessed.” 

In the days before his arrest, the community was alarmed when they saw him with many scratches on his face.

Police spokesperson Captain Sandra Janse van Rensburg reported: “It is alleged that at about 2.30pm, the community found the suspect at the 5th Avenue dumping site and started to assault him when a security vehicle stopped and intervened. The man was taken to SAPS Walmer and was detained for the murder of the child. The suspect is alleged to be the boyfriend of the deceased girl’s mother. 

On 3 August, he was released again. Olwethu said he wasn’t living with Tazlin’s mother, but was from the area.

“DNA was taken from him and will be sent for analysis” said Colonel Priscilla Naidu of the SAPS. 

But shortly after his release, he was detained again as there was a warrant of arrest for him on a housebreaking and theft case dating back to September 2022. He will apply for bail for this case in the coming week, Naidu added.

On Saturday as the community gathered for Tazlin’s funeral, frustrated pastors arrived to once again preach against violence against women. The elders came dressed in their old pinstripe suits to help where they could. The outside hall was decorated with Christmas decorations. The coffin was covered in flowers. 

Pat Hippert and Karen Jack, who run the Shine Literacy Centre, where additional support in reading and a library is provided to learners, arrived with coffee, boxes of tissues, koeksisters and to clean and open the centre’s toilets for the mourners.

As her coffin was carried in, mourners sang the hymn they chose for her: