A case of murder has been open, following the recovery of the body of the eight-year-old Snethemba Ngcece from Mthwalume on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast. The community, family members and the police launched a search for the missing the boy, whose body was found yesterday.
Together with community members, Ngcece’s family combed the bushes where in 2020, bodies of women were found, allegedly victims of a serial rapist, who later committed suicide in custody.
Ngcece’s body was found on Friday night.
KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson, Robert Netshiunda says the circumstances under which the child’s body was found, suggest that she was probably elsewhere and her body was dumped at the river not far from her father’s homestead.
“Upon evaluation police found that the body was still dressed in a school uniform. However, the underwear was missing. Which could suggest the little girl was raped before she was dumped in the reed, an area which was always going to be difficult to access. The deceased was last seen on her way home from a local primary school. The absence of a school bag raised suspicions that the area where she was found could have been a secondary crime scene, with a strong possibility that the kid was probably murdered somewhere and dumped at the river not far from her father’s homestead.”
Councilor in Ward 17 in the Umzumbe Municipality- Jika Mthethwa- says the community is deeply distressed by the child’s death.
“It has happened before that people were thrown into some areas there in Mtwalume. When we had a serial killer killing women in Mtwalume, so we went and searched there yesterday and two gentlemen from the neighbourhood found the body lying around in a river bank. They then called the family to come and have a look then they realised it was the missing child.”
A second child from the area, Lwenkosi Khawula, remains missing.
