Suspected serial killer in court after evading police since 2017

Cape Town - A suspected serial killer, said to be connected to at least six murders that left the communities of the Boland and southern Cape region reeling, will appear in Swellendam Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday for a bail application.

The 32-year-old Zimbabwean was arrested on February 9 in Swellendam following an investigation by detectives after a string of unsolved murders in Mossel Bay, Worcester, Wolseley and Swellendam.

One of the alleged killer’s victims is 47-year-old teacher Lungelwa Dangatye, who was found murdered in her house in JCC Camp informal settlement in Da Gamaskop in Kwa-Nonqaba in Mossel Bay in December 2017.

The accused is believed to have been moving around various townships of the southern Cape, evading police for the past two years. Dangatye, whose body was found with her hands tied behind her back, lifted the lid to five other unsolved murders in the Boland and coastal towns.

On Monday, Da Gamaskop community policing forum chairperson Linden Daker said: “This person has been moving around killing innocent women. He entered the house of a teacher and brutally murdered her.

“We welcome the police arrest, but we feel a lot has to be done to rid our area of crime. He is a serial killer, we are having a community meeting at the end of the month to address the problem of people who just come in and build shacks without the knowledge of community leaders. This person didn’t have a fixed residential address: he has been moving from one area to the other. As community leaders were worried because police were still hunting for the killer for the past two years, this guy could be responsible for more murders in the region. We think police should open up all unsolved murder dockets of people who died during the period of 2016 and 2017.”

Swellendam community worker Maria Peterse said: “We are relieved that police have finally arrested the suspect. We hope the law will do the right thing: put the culprit who is responsible for all the murders behind the bars for as long as possible.

“We are still shocked because our area is quiet and we are not used to these kinds of gruesome killings. We just hope the police have arrested the real murderer.”

According to southern Cape police spokesperson Malcolm Pojie, when Dangatye’s body was found at her home, evidence could link no one to the murder. “Unrelenting efforts by the investigator, through DNA analyses has led to the arrest of a 35-year-old Zimbabwean who is linked to the murder. The investigation continues in an effort to solve other murders that remain unsolved with new leads subsequent to the arrest of the accused.”

Pojie urged anyone with information that could assist in solving murders that occurred in Boland and the southern Cape between 2016 and 2019 to contact Crime Stop on 0860010111.

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