‘They killed my child, accusing him of a crime he didn’t commit’
A distraught mother from Limpopo speaks out after her son a photographer from Thohoyandou was brutally killed during a mob justice incident.
LIMPOPO – A distraught mother from Manini said she will not forgive her son’s killers.
Elelwani Ramavhulela’s son was dragged into the bushes and attacked by a group of people in Phiphidi village outside Thohoyandou recently.
“I want justice for my child. They dragged and brutally attacked and killed my child, accusing him of a crime he didn’t commit,” she told CV.
Ramavhulela said she nearly collapsed on September 18 after local police officers in Thohoyandou came to her home in Manini Block L informing her of her son, Mukundi Tshikosi’s (22) death.
She told CV that he had been accused of stealing the keys to someone’s vehicle while he was out one evening. She claims his attackers also took his ATM card and withdrew money from his account after he was killed.
Mukundi was buried on September 25 during an emotional funeral which was held at the Maniini Block L gravesite.
Police in Thohoyandou are investigating a murder after what they termed a mob justice incident on September 18, Sgt Vuledzani Dathi confirmed.
He said that on the day, the police were notified by community members about a man who was found next to the road, heavily bleeding and seemingly unconscious.
He was taken to hospital for medical treatment, where he was later certified dead. The police arrested five men and charged them with murder.
The Limpopo spokesperson for the National Prosecution Authority (NPA), Mashudu Malabi-Dzhangi said the group, which includes the man whose vehicle’s keys the deceased was accused to have taken, appeared in the Thohoyandou Magistrate’s Court on September 24 and 27 respectively. Their case was postponed to October 6 for further police investigation but due to other outstanding bail applications was rolled over to October 13, she added.
The suspects remain in custody.
