Phumelele Qoboshiyane (2) was found beheaded in a shack in Mkholombe on Monday afternoon last week.
This was confirmed by police spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda, who said Port Shepstone police were investigating a case of murder. “Body parts of the boy who had gone missing were recovered in the same area,” he said.
It is believed that Phumelele was playing outside with other children when a woman called him and asked him to go with her to buy chips.
When his family realised that he was missing, they informed the community, and a search started.
Sometime later, they received information about a woman who had recently moved to the area who had been seen with the boy.
The community located the shack and found Phumelele’s body stuffed in a 20 litre bucket and his head wrapped in paper and cloth in a plastic bag.
The boy’s mother, Pinky Qhoboshiyana (21) from Lusikisiki in Eastern Cape, said she does not think she will be able to continue with her life after the tragic death of her only child.
An emotional Qhoboshiyana, who could not hold back her tears, said she did not see what was done to her child, but her aunt saw it all.
An eyewitness, who did not want to be named, said she saw an unknown woman walking into a shack with Phumelele.
She said her sister went to look for the person renting the shack, and when she got there, she noticed blood.
“My sister told us what she had seen, and I was very unsettled that a person who lives across from us, whom we don’t know, was seen with a child, and there is blood.”
She said she asked the people who were with her to search the shack. They were allowed inside until she started touching the water buckets.
“She didn’t want me to touch the buckets, and when I insisted she grabbed it, I pushed back and grabbed the bucket. To my shock, I saw a bloody neck.”
According to the witness, they shouted and called for help, and the shack was searched again, and they found the head.
Ward committee member Constance Moyikwa said everyone was in shock as they had never seen something like it.
“This act was satanic, and when she (the woman) was asked what was she going to do with the child’s head, there was no proper answer given. Besides, this is what they do; it is their job.”
Netshiunda said another case of murder is being investigated after a 43-year-old woman was allegedly killed by community members after the boy’s body parts were found.
“The community members allegedly found a bucket with body parts of a boy who had gone missing at Mkholombe. The woman was declared dead at the scene.”
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