The community of Doornkop in Soweto is reeling from shock after the body of a mother of four was found buried in a shallow grave inside a shack.
Last Sunday, the body of the woman’s husband was found inside the couple’s other shack.
Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding their deaths.
When SABC News visited the couple’s home this morning, it was deserted; the gates and the three shacks in the yard locked.
The shallow grave, where the woman’s body was retrieved from, had been covered with fresh mud. The green flies hovering over the mound gave mute testimony of what had unfolded here. The shed-like structure, within which the shallow grave was found, had been partially dismantled and the dog kennel that had been placed on top of the grave was tipped over and lies nearby. The dog that had been kept inside this structure is gone.
Police say the woman’s husband was found dead inside the main shack – the couple’s home – last Sunday.
But the woman was nowhere to be found.
Rumours had begun spreading that she had killed her husband and was now on the run.
Police Spokesperson Kay Makhubele says, “The woman was reported missing in Meadowlands after she left home to collect her clothing from her husband in Doornkop that was last Saturday. She never came back home.”
On Friday, police sniffer dogs discovered her body buried in a shallow grave inside a shed-like structure in the yard.
Inside, a dog kennel had been placed on top of the grave and there was also a dog. One neighbour, who prefers anonymity, says the community is devastated.
“We are just devastated. But what is encouraging is that at long last her body has been found. Her family will be able to bury her, but we, as the community, we are not happy the way she died.”
The deceased woman was found wearing a pair of tights and a bra and her face covered with what looked like a cloth.
Another woman, who’s also the couple’s neighbour and also prefers anonymity, says she feels guilty that she did not do anything about the marital problems that the deceased woman and her husband were having saying that she confided in her.
“I feel guilty because one day when they had one of their arguments, the woman called me to tell me about the things her husband was doing because the husband was cheating on her.”
Police are investigating whether the couple were both killed, or that the husband killed the woman before killing himself.
Makhubele says they have since obtained a court interdict to stop the husband’s burial, which was scheduled for Saturday.
“The man was found on the 14th and was supposed to be buried today. Because we have found the body of a woman buried in the same yard, we had to do a thorough investigation to determine the cause of death of those people.”
On Friday, Police Minister Bheki Cele announced that from October to December last year, South Africa’s murder rate increased by 6.6%, meaning 389 more people were killed, compared to the same period in the previous financial year.
