Cape Town - Eleven days after 24-year-old Sibabalo Tsilana from Mfuleni was allegedly killed and his body thrown in a river, his family says the police are yet to find his body.
Tsilana was allegedly killed by two assailants on the night of September 11 after an alcohol-related disagreement.
Sibabalo’s sister Zimkhitha Tsilana said the family had lost faith in the police and were constantly given excuses about not finding the body.
Tsilana said the perpetrators came forward a day after the deadly attack, however, police only made the arrests a week later after she had requested the involvement of provincial police. She said police had opened a missing person’s case instead one of murder.
“The two guys that confessed said they used a spade to kill him and claimed that they threw his body in a river behind the newly established Covid Village and handed themselves in the day after the incident. I also opened a case, but was told that I can only report him as missing.
“However the perpetrators were not arrested until I called the provincial officers and that is when they decided to investigate the incident and made the arrests, a week after they confessed. And up until today we are still looking for his body,” she said.
Tsilana said divers and sniffer dogs were dispatched to the area, however, could not help, because “the area and the water was too dirty for divers”.
“We even requested the police make use of a helicopter to search the area, but we were told that there is no helicopter in the province All they do is to give one excuse after another They are prioritising the perpetrators rights over my brother’s, because we had asked that the perpetrators be brought to identify the place where they had thrown him into the river, but were told that will infringe on their rights.”
Police spokesperson Noloyiso Rwexana said that a search was under way by the police and community members.
Cape Argus