The families of the two boys whose mutilated bodies were found in Rockville and White City in Soweto yesterday morning, were devastated by the brutal killings.
Six-year-old Tshiamo Ramanye and Nqobile Zulu (5) were allegedly kidnapped on Thursday afternoon while playing in the area. The community gathered in the veld where the bodies were found and in an emotional outpouring threatened to unleash violence on those responsible for the heinous crime.
A community member who preferred anonymity said the person who did the horrendous crime didn’t deserve to live but to be burned alive.
“We are very hurt as the community with what happened and we wish the person or people behind this to get tyres (burning) around their neck. Going to report to the police won’t help because they will be put in jail with a roof over their heads,” said the irate mother.
.She also alleged that a sangoma could be behind the brutal killings and that if the murderer was found he should be forced to find the sangoma he or she is working with because there are signs that these were ritual killings..
Zulu’s guardian, Mapiti Shabalala, said she last saw the Grade R learner after he came back from school and changed the clothes and went to play with other kids but didn’t come back home with his sister at 5 in the afternoon.
“When I asked her where Nqobile was, she said Tshiamo’s mother said they could continue playing together,” she said.
Shabalala said after 6.30pm she and her older daughter left to look for Nqobile at Tshiamo’s home when she arrived there she was shocked to find he wasn’t there.
They went to the police station and police helped them search with no success. In the early hours of Thursday morning they heard the news that a child’s body was found nearby.
“Then when we got there we found it was Tshiamo’s body only and we asked one of the Community Police Forum guys to help us look for Nqobile. Then when we were still there other CPF guys called and said they found another body of a boy.
“I asked them what clothes he was wearing and they described them. it was what Nqobile had worn,” she said.
She said she was devastated and didn’t know how to bury the child because recently adopted him.
“It’s difficult, it’s very difficult, Nqobile’s mother is someone who smokes drugs she doesn’t have anything, not even R100. I don’t even know how I am going to bury the child. I just joined the funeral cover last month because I adopted him in January,” she said.
Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi said the third child who escaped from the abductors has given them information which may lead to an arrest.
“We visited three families, two of them lost their children, one of them survived and that is the child assisting us and the police with the relevant information,” he said.
Lesufi said more police resources will be allocated, to find those responsible and he also added that they want to know the motive for the brutal killing
MEC of Community Safety Faith Mazibuko said they also received information on a suspicious vehicle constantly roaming around the area causing panic to the community and they believe it could be driven by those who abducted the children.
