The family of an Atteridgeville man who allegedly died at an initiation and was then dumped in the Hennops River last week have confirmed the identity of the 42-year-old Bernette Maphaha. Maphaha was lured to the circumcision school on 17 June.
Maphaha’s cousin Mpho said the family was assisted by community members to ensure the suspects were apprehended and handed over to police however, the police detained the suspects for questioning and allegedly allowed them to leave without being charged.
“The police didn’t handle this case properly. The community members assisted us to apprehend the people who were working at the initiation school. They went to their place of residence to go and look for them and they handed them over to the police.
“The police didn’t do anything. The police went to the initiation school to go look for Bennett and they took the owner of the initiation school and his partner for questioning and interrogated them. The police only arrested people who worked at the initiation school but the owner of the initiation school is on the run,” said Mpho.
“As a family we are shattered because if they saw that my cousin died, why didn’t they tell us instead of throwing his body in the river. We had to search for him for two weeks not knowing where he was.
“So as a family we feel like the police have failed us. Even when the suspects appeared in court we only got the message at 10:30 on that day and we were informed the suspects had already appeared and they were released.
“We only got the message after they appeared in court. So to get information we constantly need to enquire with them (police). The police don’t give us information. I am not sure if we will get justice or what. We don’t know anymore,” she added.
On Wednesday, a group of community members decided to close the initiation schools operating in the area illegally.
Gauteng Police and the provincial Department of Cooperative governance and Traditional Affairs are yet to respond to Newsnote’s enquiries.
