Police find body of six-year-old girl

The police and members of the community have been searching for Bontle Zethu Mashiyane since April 30. Her body was found on May 20.

Shortly after, the police arrested three people and charged them with the kidnapping, rape and murder of Bontle.

The provincial police commissioner, Lt Gen Semakaleng Manamela, told the media on Sunday May 22 that the police were also questioning two more people, and are adamant that they will successfully link them to this case. “The arrested trio includes a woman who is a next-door neighbour of the victim’s family,” said Manamela.

The Mashiyanes said Bontle’s body had been mutilated before she was discovered. She had been missing for 21 days and was last seen with a man named Collen Hlongwane on the last day of April. Hlongwane, a convicted murderer, is currently out on parole. According to Bontle’s family, they only know him as the neighbour’s boyfriend.

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Premier Refilwe Mtshweni-Tsipane and the MEC for community safety, security and liaison, Vusi Shongwe, visited the Mashiyane family and briefed them about the latest developments in this case, which included the arrest of the three suspects.

According to the police, they are also linked to other similar cases, including a recent one in which two little girls were abducted and later found murdered. It has since come to light that a sangoma is among the people being questioned by the police. It is suspected that Bontle was killed for muti-related rituals. The suspects are expected to appear in court sometime this week.

Shongwe condemned the incident in which the sangoma was alleged to have been involved in the victim’s kidnapping and murder. According to Shongwe, there was a video in circulation on social media wherein a man alleges they were sent by a traditional healer to obtain female body parts for traditional purposes.

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“We have no place for traditional healers who rely on the death of other people in order to heal. In fact, those should not be regarded as traditional healers, but criminals. True traditional healers don’t hurt others to heal another. We cannot accept any form of criminality in the name of traditional healing. True traditional healers must expose those who are using this gift to destroy and kill others,” he said.

On Tuesday May 10, the Masoyi Police Station was closed for almost the entire day as the whole force searched for the little girl. The police acted swiftly after community members in Mganduzweni and Game held a meeting to shut down the station in order to get all SAPS officers on the ground.

“We could not eat, we could not sleep and sometimes it felt like we were losing our heads. Since her disappearance, life has not been easy and it will not get easier from now on. Due to unfortunate circumstances, we found closure when my little girl’s body was found,” said Bontle’s mother, Permission Seipane.

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