An 89-year-old man was robbed and burnt to death while his girlfriend was raped at their home near KwaMhlanga on Saturday, Mpumalanga police said.
"The couple were awoken by two men who knocked on the door of their one room shack and identified themselves as police," said Sergeant Nonhlanhla Kgosana.
"The bogus police said they were looking for a certain man from that shack, but the occupants refused to open the door."
The men then broke the door and stormed in.
The couple lived alone in a shack.
"A scuffle broke out as the old man tried to fight off the attackers by pushing them, but they overpowered him.
"One of the men hit his 58-year-old girlfriend on the neck with a hard object and blind-folded her with a blanket. He then raped her while his accomplice searched the man," said Kgosana.
The men allegedly set the shack on fire by dousing it in paraffin and then lighting it.
They then ran away with the wallet of the man containing R40 and his two wrist watches.
"As the flames were gutting down the shack, the woman also flocked out and screamed for help... neighbours came to her rescue and put out the fire with buckets of water," said Kgosana.
The elderly man died in the fire.
A case of rape, murder and robbery were opened for investigation. No arrests have been made.
- Sapa