Police Minister Bheki Cele says police have approach 10 people ‘of interest’ as investigations continue into the murder and rape of the Grade 12 learner Palesa Malatji from Ntsako Secondary School in Soshanguve, Tshwane.
Malatji allegedly left school in the afternoon after attending extra classes but never arrived home. The Department of Education said her body was found next to Echibini Secondary School in Soshanguve on May 26.
On Saturday, Cele attended the funeral services of the17-year-old Malatji in Soshanguve together with some politicians including the EFF’s Mbuyiseni Ndlozi.
Cele said much as he was hoping to give the community news about what happened to Malatji but not much has happened since her killing, except that 10 people have been approached by the police including school boys who were studying with her.
“So there is something called a person of interest, then there is a suspect and then you are arrested. We have people of interest who are studying with her. But we still needed to confirm and we took DNA samples to the laboratory from the crime scene.
“What we are doing now is trying to match them. By this time on Friday we will know and we will give feedback to the community. So something is happening. It’s just unfortunate that there are people who are studying with her,” said Cele.
The bereaved family has called on community members to come forward with information that might assist police investigations
“There is no way that Palesa walked from Ntsako and passed block FF and entered block GG without anyone noticing. If the person who did this is your brother or uncle and you are keeping this a secret just tell us. Please tell us because he is still going to hurt other people.
“He might hurt the one who you love. He might hurt your parents because once you murder one person you will continue to murder. If you rape one person you will continue to rape. Let’s stop crime. As community members we must work together so we can stop such crimes.
“But if we are not united we will not achieve anything. We will continue to bury our loved ones if we are not united,” said family spokesperson Moshe Malatji.
