Police divers pulled the decomposing corpses of two alleged mob justice victims from a swamp in Cape Town.
|||Cape Town -Police divers pulled the bodies of two kidnap victims from murky waters, where they had remained unseen for a month.
The decomposing bodies are believed to be those of missing men Thembani Mnyamane, 27, and Sisa Walaza.
The duo were among five men who were caught and beaten by a mob who accused them of breaking into Samora Machel homes.
On Wednesday, a month of searching for the men, who were thought to be in prison, came to an end - and it was all sparked by the discovery and identification of another corpse.
Last Friday, the body of an unknown male found on the banks of a swamp on October 10 was finally identified by relatives as that of Mcebisi Bobozayo, 20. Mcebisi was the cousin of Thembani.
Mcebisi’s corpse had been found about 100 metres away from where Thembani and Sisa were found on Wednesday in a swamp in Driftsand, near Mfuleni.
Mcebisi’s brother Mbongeni Bobozayo, 33, says he did not even know his boet was missing until last week Monday.
“From what I hear, he went to his cousin’s house that night and found a group of men there beating him (Thembani) up,” he says.
“Mcebisi was grabbed and also accused of being a part of this group that breaks into houses.
“He was thrown into a van that belonged to one of the men who claimed to have been robbed.
“By then the police were there and they were taken away.
“That was the last time anyone ever saw him.
“I started searching frantically for him (last Monday), in hospitals and I finally found him at Tygerberg Mortuary.”
Police spokesperson Captain FC van Wyk says the first corpse was found by a man who was cutting wood in the area.
“The deceased was taken to the mortuary but he has been identified by his family as one of the victims,” he says.
“And on Wednesday, bodies (skeletons) of two men were found dumped and covered with branches of trees in a swamp.
“Nyanga detectives managed to locate the bodies through the use of technology.”
Thembani’s family tells the Daily Voice although they are relieved his body has been found, it could still be a long time before their attackers are brought to justice.
His brother Anele Mqoboli, 26, says: “A day after he disappeared his landlord came to me and told me one of her other tenants witnessed Thembani’s kidnapping.
“I went to this man and he told me Thembani was woken up by a group of men who told him he had been fingered as a suspect in the housebreakings.”
The witness claims by the time Thembani was picked up by the mob, there were already two badly beaten men sitting in the back of the van with tyres around their necks.
“He said that the van and another car were escorted by police out of the area and he assumed they were being taken to the police station.
“I did not go to the police station because I told myself Thembani was older than me, he knew what he was doing and prison was nothing new for him,” he adds.
“He would call me from Pollsmoor if he got bail, but I never got the call.”
However, Anele says a few days later there was talk in the township that a group was bragging about killing three men and disposing of their bodies.
“I did not take it seriously until I heard it myself. Then on October 30, I went to the police station to report it,” adds Anele.
“There they told me they would open a kidnapping case until the bodies were found.”
Anele then carried out his own investigation and tracked down a man who was part of the mob that attacked his brother.
“I then managed to get hold of one of the guys who were present at the beating and begged him to come and tell our family where my brother was,” Anele explains.
“I told him that all I wanted was my brother’s body. People get beaten to death all the time here, but their bodies are left behind so that the family can bury their dead - but they were denying us that.
“They were arrested and I was shocked when I heard they had been released after just two weeks in prison.”
Captain van Wyk adds: “One suspect, a 36-year-old man, appeared in Athlone Magistrates’ Court and remains in custody until December 2, where he will re-appear for bail application.
“The arrest of two more suspects is imminent. The two men were arrested after the incident was reported in October. They appeared in court but the case was withdrawn due to the lack of evidence.
“Some of the charges the suspects will face are of kidnapping and murder.”
Daily Voice