News24.com | Dad testifies about his agonising wait outside school gates for missing son

• The father of murdered Sibusiso Dakuse from Hout Bay testified about the moment he realised his son was missing. 
• All hope was crushed when he waited until the last child came out of school when the bell rang, and he was gone. 
• A basketball coach in a popular club in Hout Bay is on trial for Sibusiso's murder. 

The father of murdered Hout Bay singing prodigy Sibusiso Dakuse began testifying in the Western Cape High Court on Tuesday when the trial of the basketball coach accused of killing the boy resumed. 

Marvin Minnaar is on trial for the murder and rape of Sibusiso, whose body was found two days after he did not return to his home in Imizamo Yethu in Hout Bay. Minnaar has pleaded not guilty.

Sibusiso's father, taxi driver Wandisile Ndzakayi, has been in the empty public gallery as often as possible after his tiring morning shift, leaving for his afternoon shift in the high-stress commuter transport industry. 

He was emotionally eased into what would be a difficult day, with questions on his background, and he told the court he grew up in Imizamo Yethu, a suburb of free-standing houses and shacks set out on a hill in the fishing town. 

His son grew up there, too, sleeping with his granny in one house during the week. He loved visiting his mother further up the hill over weekends. After school, 12-year-old Sibusiso's favourite thing to do after homework and chores was to meet up with his friends to play.

READ | Hout Bay murder: Parents of missing boy 'polite yet anxious' during search for missing son, court hears

He attended Sentinel Primary School and took singing lessons at the Kronendal Music Academy. The arty child was not keen on sports and, to his dad's knowledge, did not participate in any. 

When Sibusiso did not come home on 26 February 2020, his mother phoned Ndzakayi and told him, but they were not too worried at that point. They thought he was sleeping at Ndzakayi's mother's house. 

Although he had moved to Delft two years earlier, Ndzakayi's taxi route was to Hout Bay and back, and he saw Sibusiso from his taxi every day. The last time he saw him was the day he went missing. Sibusiso was sitting safely in the public transport that took him home between 15:00 and 16:00. 

When the family realised on Thursday, 27 February, that Sibusiso had not slept at Ndzakayi's mother's home, they began to worry. They checked in with Sibusiso's aunt Shelly, who lived nearby. She had not seen him either.

Ndzakayi testified:

Sibusiso's granny reported him missing at the Hout Bay police station, and the community mobilised and fanned out to find him. One of the residents called his name through a megaphone, and people were stopped and asked for any bit of information. 

Ndzakayi testified that he spent the morning waiting for school to come out. 

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"I stood at the gate waiting for the kids to come out. When there were no more kids, I went and joined the search party," he said. 

Sibusiso's body was found in reeds not far from home the following day by a police search party.

He was murdered and raped. 

The trial continues.