Publications
Partners
A 22-year-old man who was arrested for the disappearance and murder of 26-year-old Khensani Sambo in Mpumalanga, could be linked to other murders in the province, according to police.
Sambo was reported missing in March.
After the man was arrested in connection with her disappearance and murder, he led police to a site near Hazyview where her body had been dumped.
It was in an advanced stage of decomposition, police spokesperson Colonel Mtsholi Bhembe said.
While the man was there, he claimed to have information about the murders of two young girls whose bodies were discovered in a ditch in April. One of them had been raped.
According to Bhembe, the man claimed that he might have left the other two girls in the company of other people.
Detectives are investigating the claims, the police spokesperson said.
He has not been charged with or arrested for their murders.
The man appeared in the Kabokweni Magistrate's Court for Sambo's murder on Thursday and the case was postponed to June 5.
Vigilante attacks
Both murder cases have been marred by attacks of vigilantism, which provincial police commissioner Lieutenant General Mondli Zuma condemned.
"We have always maintained that mob justice, also known as vigilantism, is not only illegal, but inherently has the potential of having innocent people suffering the brunt of the community and usually end up being killed," Zuma said in a statement.
After the disappearance of the two girls, community members in Masoyi consulted with a sangoma who allegedly pointed them in the direction of a local pastor and his nephew. The two men were burnt death and their homes torched, said Bhembe.
The 22-year-old man's home was also burnt after his arrest for Sambo's murder.
KEEP UPDATED on the latest news by subscribing to our FREE newsletter.
- FOLLOW News24 on Twitter
