Uyinene Mrwetyana's grieving family has described her murder as the "most inconceivable and catastrophic time of our lives".
Expressing their gratitude for the outpouring of love and support received from the University of Cape Town and the country at large, her aunt, Nombulelo Kokha, said at a campus memorial service on Wednesday that their beloved Nene was the apple of her loved ones' eyes.
"She only knew love and thus demonstrated it in the manner she lived and how she showed up daily," Kokha said on behalf of the family.
"Her light will forever shine in our hearts as she gazes down from the heavens."
She expressed the family's thanks to the university community, especially those who prayed and "literally went to look for Uyinene".
The Mrwetyanas challenged the government, communities, fathers, brothers, uncles and nephews to "pronounce their firm stand against perpetrators who commit such tragic acts against women".
"We declare war. We declare war against such actions," her aunt said.
"Let Nene's death and that of all other women and children who suffered at the hands of these rapists and murderers not be in vain but a constant reminder, a call to action, for our SA government and men and end this scourge of violence against women, thus creating a better tomorrow," Kokha said.
Mrwetyana was murdered on the same day she went missing - August 24.
She was raped and bludgeoned to death in the Clareinch post office. Her body was dumped in Khayelitsha and found last Monday.
A week later, a post office employee made his first appearance in the Wynberg Magistrate's Court, where horrified loved ones heard the man had confessed to beating Mrwetyana to death with a scale after luring her to his workplace by offering to help her with a parcel query after closing time.
Magistrate Goolam Bawa ordered that he should not be named as the police investigation was continuing.
He has yet to enter a plea.
