Council speaker leads clean-up at local park after 17-year-old’s brutal murder

The Speaker of the Tshwane council recently led a clean-up campaign at a Soshanguve park where a young girl was brutally raped and murdered.

Palesa Malatji, who was in Grade 12 at Ntsako secondary school, was murdered at the park in Soshanguve next to Echibini Secondary School on May 25.

Neighbours had reported that they heard screams from the area the previous night.

The 17-year-old was laid to rest on June 3.

PARK WILL BE CLEANED

At the funeral, Tshwane Speaker Mncedi Ndzwanana promised the family and community of Soshanguve that he would ensure that the park will be cleaned.

He also committed to repairing streetlights in the area.

NOWHERE TO HIDE

According to Ndzwana, the reason for the cleaning was to ensure criminals had nowhere to hide and wait for their next victim.

“I wish that something like this will not happen again. The community will not be able to sleep in peace until the perpetrators are arrested, and the police must not rest until the person is found,’’ Ndzwanana said.

Ndzwanana visited Palesa’s family and told them that he would make certain the metro has the necessary budget to revive the park.

Family spokesperson and Palesa’s uncle Thabiso Malatji said that they were happy that the park had been cleaned up.

“This shows that Palesa’s death was not taken lightly, and hopefully there will not be any other victim,” Thabiso added.

Thabiso previously told Rekord that crime was rife in the township and children were not safe.

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