‘I WILL MISS HER JOKES'

The lawyer uncle of slain Tshegofatso Pule tells YOU of his family’s pain and why he’ll never defend an abuser of women again

- DUENNA MAMBANA

SHE was the life and soul of any gathering she attended – just as her mom once was. Everyone knew her as bright, bubbly and full of life and it’s hard to believe she’s gone, her uncle says.

Tshegofatso Pule was brutally murdered and found in Roodepoort hanging from a tree with multiple stab wounds in her chest, days after she was reported missing.

Her family are still reeling, especially after the arrest of Mzikayise Malephane who’s reportedly a childhood friend of Ntuthuko Shoba, the father of Tshego’s unborn baby.

“She was bubbly and outspoken at the same time,” says her uncle Tumisang Katake, who’s also her family’s spokesperson. “You could feel her presence in the room every time she’d enter.”

Tshego, as the family lovingly called her, was loud – just like his sister, he says. “But that loudness always brought laughter to everyone.

“She had a lot of jokes. She’d call me uncle bae and tell me to donate my car to her and bless her. That’s how we used to play. She loved jokes and I’ll miss that about her.”

Tumisang says Tshego resembled her mother, Margaret Mashiane, in many ways. “All these videos doing the rounds on social media of Tshego dancing – that’s who we know. She was a true replica of her mom. A happy girl.”

Tshego and her siblings, brother Pholoso and sisters Mimi and Nakedi, were raised by Margaret’s sister, Priscilla Giwu, after Margaret died 11 years ago.

Tshego, who was eight months pregnant when she was killed, couldn’t wait to become a mother, Tumisang says.