Lerato Nkutha, also known as Rato, will be buried in Dundee in KwaZulu-Natal on Saturday, 19 May.
Her body was found on 9 May in Ext 15. She was murdered and her bottom lip was missing.
Her body was dumped in a yard near the main road.
Rato was reported missing on Monday, 7 May at about 4.30pm.
Her family said she returned from school and asked her mother for R20 to buy a bunny chow. Her mother became anxious when she realized she had taken longer than usual to return from the shop. Nobody knew where she was and the family reported her as missing at the police station.
The community searched for Rato for nearly the whole night, but could not find her. The family was not happy with eMbalenhle Police’s handling of the matter and contacted the Secunda Cluster K9 Unit.
The K9 Unit and the local police discovered that Rato was seen playing near the Wela uMlambo River. Delta 1 Rescue Diving team searched for the 11-year-old girl in the river on 8 May, but without luck. Police followed a lead during which they were told that a child was heard crying in the reeds.
The dog unit was summoned, but Rato was not found. In the early hours of 9 May the police received a complaint from community members that the body of a girl was dumped in a yard.
It was the body of Rato.
Also read: Missing girl (11) found murdered in Extension 15, eMbalenhle
Const Busi Mthethwa, police spokesman, said the police are working round the clock to apprehend the suspects. “We send our deepest condolences to the family of Lerato. We condemn such barbaric behaviour. The abuse of children and women must come to an end. We are calling on the community to help us with any information that leads to the arrest of the suspects.”
Police are investigating the manner in which Rato was murdered.
The Nkutha family’s neighbours accused eMbalenhle Police of being passive and not helpful at all.
“We are losing confidence in the eMbalenhle Police. When we informed them of the missing girl, they did not show any urgency and instead told us to bring them a photo of her the next morning. These are the things that lead to us taking the law into our own hands. Our children and women are murdered daily and we do not see any justice,” said a neighbour.
The Nkutha family said Rato’s death was not the first in the family.
Mr Bongani Nkutha, family member, said his daughter was also murdered in the area in 2016. He said has never had any feedback from the police since her murder.
