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A 29-year-old woman named Pontsho Mohlanka has been arrested and charged in a case where two kids (aged 6 and 8 years) were found murdered in Orange Farm (south of Johannesburg). The suspect appeared in the magistrate’s court on 1 October where she said she would be aplying for bail. The accused woman was found with the clothes of the two children and has said she was ‘led by the spirit’.
The two children, Simphiwe Mgcina and Mpho Makondo, were found in the bush undressed and no body knows what happened. They were last seen by their sister who works at nearby salon. According to the sister the kids came to the salon around 8pm, then she sent them back home as it was late and she is still on duty. She then walked them home for some of the way and told them to walk home, returning to work. Later when she got home, the children were not there. She started searching for them but they were nowhere to be found. They reported the children as missing to the police but the police told them they will do the searching the following day because it was late that day. The next day, on 19 September the kids were found dead In the bush.
The memorial service was held at Orange Farm Multipurpose Centre on 26 September 2020. The children from Madume Primary also attended the service. The family of the children say that they are very hurt about what happened and they wish the law can arrest who ever did this to their children.
Mohlanka was arrested earlier year and charged with the murder of another child (Mzwandile Zitho, 5 years) in April, with another male suspect considered to be her partner. But the charges were withdrawn against him. According to Gauteng provincial police spokesperson Brigadier Mathapelo Peters, the case was temporarily withdrawn in court pending the outcome of a toxicology report. Mohlanka was then released from police custody on 16 September, three days before the murder of the two Makondo children in September.
The community of Orange Farm who attended the case hearing on 1 October say the suspect should not get bail otherwise they will take the law in their own hands.
This article was submitted on 3 October 2020. You may republish this article, so long as you credit the authors and Karibu! Online (www.Karibu.org.za), and do not change the text. Please include a link back to the original article.
