Arrest made for murder of girls
The same suspect was found to be responsible for another murder.
Tshepiso Mokoena (22), believed to be responsible for the murder of two young girls from Mganduzweni Trust in Masoyi as well as that of Khensani Sambo (20), was arrested on Tuesday May 28. He briefly appeared in the KaBokweni Magistrate’s Court.
Mokoena was remanded in custody and would have had to reappear in the same court on June 5.
The two girls, aged six and seven, had last been seen playing near their parent’s home the previous day and their bodies were later found in a ditch. Contrary to popular belief at the time that some body parts were missing, none was found to be missing. However, the younger girl had allegedly been raped.
Subsequent to that, a sangoma was reportedly consulted by members of the community, who in turn falsely accused a local pastor and his nephew as the ones responsible for the siblings’ demise.
The community then burned the two men to death and torched their houses in an act of vigilantism.
The same suspect was found to be responsible for the murder of Sambo, who was reported missing at Shabalala Trust near Hazyview in March.
A police investigation pointed towards the suspect, who then pointed out the place where the body had been dumped. It was found at an advanced stage of decomposition. On the same day after the police had left, some community members also burned the suspect’s house down, hence an arson case is also being investigated.
The suspect, who is reportedly related to the young girls, claimed that he had taken the two victims and handed them to other people, but police investigation is still under way to validate those claims.
The provincial commissioner of the SAPS in Mpumalanga, Lt Gen Mondli Zuma once again condemned acts of vigilantism by residents as they have the potential of having innocent people falling victims to the uncontrollable ire of the community.
“We have always maintained that mob justice, also known as vigilantism, is not only illegal, but inherently has the potential of having innocent people suffering the brunt of the community and usually end up being killed,” said Zuma.
Anyone with information that may assist police in their investigation is urged to contact Capt Timothy Mushwana on
082-449-0223 or the SAPS Crime Stop number 086-001-0111.
