Following his disappearance from St Mathias Tsonzo High School on December 6 last year and the discovery of human remains at the school last week, Livingstone Sunhwa’s mother believes her son was murdered and has already prepared for the worst.
Human remains that are suspected to be Livingstone’s were discovered last Friday in a thicket that is a stone’s throw from the school.
The homicide wing of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has taken over the investigations and is in the process of doing Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) tests to establish whether the human remains are Livingstone’s.
It is understood that the police collected samples from Livingstone’s mother on Sunday.
Ms Tadya and the rest of her family are finding it difficult to make sense of the latest developments, especially considering that the school authorities who were responsible for her son have not reached out to empathise with them ever since Livingstone’s disappearance.
While the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education has released a statement exuding regret, and suspended the headmaster, Mr Maxwell Sambona, to pave way for investigations, the mother feels that the school and the institution’s responsible authority, the Anglican Church, could have done better in handling the case.
As the discovery of the human remains reverberated across the country, The Manica Post caught up with Ms Tadya.
Ms Tadya revealed that the body parts were strewn all over the place, with some of them missing.
She said considering that police investigations have dragged on for close to seven months, she was wondering how much time it would take to finalise the matter.
Ms Tadya called for those behind her son’s disappearance to be brought to book.
She said her grief journey, if any, will not truly begin until the conclusion of the matter.
The fact that the matter is all over social and mainstream media is taking away the privacy that the family values.
The woman said she single-handedly laboured to raise Livingstone and his sister, Pride, following the death of their father in 2010.
She shared the searing pain of losing a child, and said she would live with it for the rest of her life if the DNA tests confirm that the remains are Livingstone’s.
“I am never ever going to recover from this. I will live with it every day. I will carry the pain every single day of my life,” she said.
“No mother and sister – no one – deserves to be presented with so much pain. It is devastating.
“It is like a part of my soul has been removed. It is painful for a parent to lose a child. Only affected parents can relate to what I am going through. The fact that he disappeared at the hands of those who were supposed to take care of him makes the pain worse,” she said.
Ms Tadya is convinced that her son was murdered and wants his soul to torment the killers until they lose their marbles and confess publicly.
“No amount of appeasement can bring back my son. Money does not buy life. I just want them to suffer the same ordeal my son went through. What can they do to replace Livingstone? Where will I find him?” she cried.
Ms Tadya said for the past few months, she had remained hopeful that she would see Livingstone alive and continued buying clothes for him.
“I had brought him a track bottom and put some winter clothes on lay-bye in South Africa. Some clothes I brought for him in December are still there. I never imagined him dead.
“The last time I spoke to him was on December 3 when he texted me around 4am saying, ‘Morning mama, I am going for study’.
“Those were his last words to me. I had high expectations for Livingstone. He wanted to become an Economist. He had a bright future and his life was cut short. He liked studying and was a humble and respectful person,” she said.
If the DNA tests turn out negative, Ms Tadya said the search party will continue until Livingstone is located.
The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education has since suspended St Mathias High School headmaster, Mr Sambona, to pave way for investigations.
The Anglican Church, on the other hand, said they want the truth and all those implicated in Livingstone’s disappearance to face the music.
“As the responsible authority, we demand the truth and thorough investigations should be done. We want justice to prevail,” said the Anglican Diocese registrar and spokesperson, Mr Ashel Mutungura.
