Thousands of people came to say their final emotional goodbyes to Lekita Moore, who was laid to rest on Saturday.
The funeral for the 19-year-old, who was found slaughtered on a veldjie in Valhalla Park last week, was held on Heritage Day at the Sharon Assembly Church in the area.
Also in attendance was Community Safety MEC Dan Plato, ANC Western Cape chairman Marius Fransman, and alleged 28s gang boss in Valhalla Park, Ralph Stanfield, and his wife Nicole, who paid for the burial.
At the Moore family home in Louise Street, now painted sky blue in Lekita’s favourite colour, a huge banner with her picture on it was draped on the fence.
Dad Charl Moore, 53, appeared calm, until Lekita was carried in a beautiful white and gold coffin. Charl broke down while his wife Shireen, 49, and their other daughter Mercia, 20, wailed uncontrollably.
Speaking to Daily Voice, Charl said: “She was everything to us. Our baby. We had such hopes for her. She was positive, beautiful, a star, a good example to all the youth in the area.”
At the church, community member Chantelle Bennett thanked the Stanfields on behalf of Lekita’s parents for paying for the funeral.
Fransman and Plato both took to the podium, urging the community to support the family.
Fransman said: “Do not stop supporting this family, remain with them months from now. Words of encouragement, or just a hug, would mean the world to them.”
Plato said he was sick of “our own people killing our children”.
“She did not deserve this, but God is at work and her murderers will be brought to justice.”
Cameron Wilson, 19, from Heinz Park, has been arrested in connection with the murder.
He will be back in the Bishop Lavis Magistrates’ Court on October 11 for a bail application.
Lekita disappeared while attending a sports fundraiser at the Valhalla Park Civic Centre on Saturday 17 September.
The young girl was brutally killed — her nipples and genitals had been cut off, a bottle was shoved up her vagina and her face was also badly slashed.
Dozens of members of the 28s gang in the area also attended the funeral.
A high-ranking member told Daily Voice the gang “had nothing to do” with Lekita’s death.
“This was not done by one of our own. We have family here and our community is our people. We protect them and would never harm our own,” the man says.
He warned: “We will not have anything like this happen again.”
A man known to Lekita, Xavier Bester, 20, who was killed about 17 hours after her body was found, was buried on Friday.