Resident stoned to death after child died
After the body of Palesa Mosoloke (14), a Grd 8 learner of Makhutjisha High School in Mookgophong was discovered by relatives, community members of Mookgophong apparently took the law into their own hands with a retaliation attack on a man from Swaziland.
According to the police Palesa’s body was found naked in a shack in Extension 8 on Thursday evening 23 September.
Her body was found underneath a bed and did not show any visible injuries. It is suspected that she might have been strangled, but forensic reports and results from the post mortem are still outstanding.
The young girl was reported missing on Wednesday 22 September. Relatives started looking for her and her body was found in the shack which was rented by a traditional healer from Swaziland. He is only known by his trade name, Mhlongo, and has since disappeared.
According to his landlord he was a loner and he could not be reached on his cell phone. Eyewitnesses told the police that the girl was last seen walking in the company of Mhlongo.
In the early hours of Sunday 26 September, the police were summoned to Extension 2 where a Swaziland national was assaulted, stoned and set alight by the community.
The victim was rushed to the clinic but succumbed to his injuries in the hospital.
WO George Ledwaba, media spokesperson of the police in Mookgophong, said that no one has yet been arrested for the murder of the man.
“We are not sure who identified him as the suspect. His identity is also not yet confirmed. We are still investigating the case,” Ledwaba told The Post.
Capt. Frans Kekana, Chief of the Investigation team of the police in Mookgophong, said it appears as if an innocent man was set alight by members of the community.
The community thought that the victim was responsible for the death of Mosoloke. Both Kekana and the Provincial Commissioner of Police in Limpopo, Lieutenant General Thembi Hadebe, has strongly condemned both murders and warned the community not to let anger get the better of them.
“Community members must desist from taking the law into their own hands and must instead work with the police by providing information that can assist in apprehending the suspects,” he said.
The police were still busy with investigations into the murder of the young girl when they were made aware of the vengeance attack on the Swaziland national. Anyone with information about the incidents in Mookgophong are urged to contact Captain Kekana on tel. 082 565 8299 or the nearest police station.
