The Bloemfontein police are continuing to probe the baffling kidnapping and murder of Machaka Radebe (16).
The frantic search for the teen ended in tragedy on Monday, when a passer-by discovered her body at about 02:00 in an open field in Phase 9, next to the Dewetsdorp Road in Bloemfontein.
Her grief-stricken family has asked for privacy to mourn, while hoping the police will make a breakthrough in the investigation to bring the culprits to book.
Brig Motantsi Makhele, spokesperson for the Free State police, confirmed that Machaka had a stab wound in the back.
Her body was found two days after a case had been opened on Saturday, 2 December.
Machaka’s murder came in the wake of her brother reporting that an unknown man had demanded cash and further threatened that his sister would die.
He received the death threat upon calling Machaka’s phone while searching for her after he had noticed she was not in her bedroom at about 12:45. He had last seen her at 12:00 the same day. She mysteriously disappeared from her home in Thakalekoala Street, Rocklands.
The police said upon the man demanding the ransom, the brother immediately informed their mother and they opened a case of kidnapping at the Kagisanong Police Station.
The police have launched a manhunt for the kidnapper(s) and murderer(s) of Machaka, who was a learner at the Brebner High School in Bloemfontein.
Machaka’s kidnapping and killing coincides with an ongoing search for two young Bloemfontein women: Lerato Masiu (23) and Lesego Mamello Motaung (22).
There are conflicting reports regarding Motaung’s disappearance.
Lt. Col Thabo Covane, police spokesperson, said earlier according to information received from the aunt, Motaung had left her home in Uitsig, saying she was going to work at a food chain restaurant in Zastron Street, Westdene. However, one of Motaung’s colleagues alleged that she had reported being sick with ulcers. Her disappearance remains unexplained.
Motaung was reported missing on 30 October – with no change amid the ongoing search.
According to the police, information received from Masiu’s parent stated that before her disappearance she had come home with an unknown male who claimed to be a police officer investigating an incident on Facebook, involving Masiu.
She never returned home after leaving with the bogus police officer at about 12:30, raising suspicions of human trafficking. She was reported missing on 16 November.
According to the Organised Crime Index released in September this year, produced by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (GI-TOC), South Africa is fertile ground for human trafficking and is ranked seventh out of 193 countries on a scale that measures criminality. Young females are most vulnerable to human trafficking, the report revealed.
The police have reported almost 4 000 people kidnapped between July and September this year. In the report on crime statistics, delivered by Police Minister Bheki Cele, it was revealed that about 136 kidnapping cases were for ransom.
In the Free State alone, 130 kidnapping cases were reported during the period in question.
Anyone with information about the whereabouts of Motaung and Masiu, or Machaka’s killers, is requested to call Col Msokoli Bolsiek on 082-466-8530 or Const. Tumo Godfrey Choane on 082-465-5945.
Information can be shared on Crime Stop on 08600-10111.
