Johannesburg - They stood in a group whispering among themselves, fear and shock etched on their faces as forensic investigators scoured the nearby house for evidence.
Beatrice Mashele, 78, Maria Masemola, 64, Zwana Ntshangas, 85, Elizabeth Mofokeng, 83, and Amelia Mthembu, age unknown, were on edge, terrified that they could easily suffer the same fate as that which befell 86-year-old Mmule Mpakanyane.
She lay dead inside the house. The elderly woman had been raped and strangled by an intruder on Wednesday night.
“We are scared,” Mashele said. “Who can we trust? We are old and can’t run when they (criminals) come into the house and attack us.”
The body of Mpakanyane, an ANC stalwart, was discovered after one of the tenants in her Wattville, Benoni, house noticed that one of the doors was broken and ajar. He entered the house and was confronted by the gruesome scene.
The elderly woman divided her time between her daughter’s Orange Grove home in Joburg and her Wattville house. At the time of her death, she had gone to Wattville for a funeral and to attend a church service.
Ekurhuleni mayor Mzwandile Masina was among the first people to arrive at the deceased’s house on Thursday.
He quickly mobilised law enforcement, sending specialists to the house to comb the area for clues that could lead to the arrest of the perpetrator.
Masina condemned the murder and said it saddened him. “I had expected someone of her age to die of natural causes, not to be brutally murdered. She was a community builder and known by many people.
“We want justice to prevail and the community needs to assist us in finding the killer. I can’t believe this barbaric act,” he said.
Sitting on the lawn a few metres from the house were Mpakanyane’s younger siblings, Evelyn Neeuwfan, 73, and Thelma Gillingi, 70.
A heartbroken Neeuwfan said that when she was informed on Thursday morning about her sister’s death, she thought it was from natural causes and was therefore surprised to find police officers at the house.
“I wish I had not been alive to see the way in which my sister died. What happened shocked and hurt us. She did not deserve to die like this. There are nasty people in life,” she said.
By late Thursday, police had taken in a suspect for questioning.
The Star