Sleepless nights and a week-long search ended tragically for the Nokhangela family in Kanana when their worst fear came true last Sunday morning.
It was then that they discovered the body of their family member, 33-year-old Papi Nokhangela in the bushveld near the N12; he had been stabbed to death. To make matters worse, his remains had been ravaged by the birds and beasts of the field.
According to 36-year-old Elizabeth Nokhangela, the deceased’s sister, the police had known about Papi’s disappearance since Monday 1 August. She expressed disappointment at them for failing the family by doing nothing and leaving their mother to spearhead the search.
“They could have searched the area with dogs; maybe they would have found him,” she exclaimed.
“Papi was last seen on Saturday, 30 July. On Sunday morning, my mother noticed that his last night’s supper was still untouched. At 18:30 she called me to say that something was terribly wrong because he always comes home,” she added.
Elizabeth says their mother went to report the case of a missing person at Ikageng Police Station on Monday morning. She also made enquiries with the people who usually hang around with him. Unfortunately, nobody knew of his whereabouts.
“On Tuesday, she went to the hospital and state mortuary and could not find him. She also hunted for him in the dense bushes.
The family asked ourselves why the police were not doing anything,” she said.
The distraught family and relatives say they started searching extensively for him from Wednesday until the uncle found his body at about 10:00 on Sunday morning. The police were then alerted to the scene.
According to the family, Papi always crossed the same bushveld to visit relatives in Mooibank. Elizabeth described her younger brother as kind and quiet and a person who loved to sing and dance at home.
“He was loved by many people and always loved doing chores around the house and helping to clean at nearby shops,” she said. “My brother always used to tell my mother about five boys smoking drugs in the bush. He suspected that they are responsible for a number of murders in the area. She warned him not to use the same path again,” she said.
The SAPS spokesperson, Sgt Kelebogile Moleko says police are still investigating a case of murder.
Col Sabata Mokgwabone, NW SAPS provincial spokesperson says they are aware of the complaint against the police. “We will comment fully after getting all the facts of the case,” he said.
