Dead kids’ dad asked for cash
Mom’s phone not answered
The father of two of the four children killed with their mothers at a house in Vlakfontein, south of Johannesburg, said he received messages from the phone of the children’s mother asking for money two days before their bodies were found. Cedrick Shembe, 46, the father of Luyanda, 7, and Nondumiso, 2, said he last saw his children on October 3.
He said he had been talking to the children on the phone but when he called their mother on October 14 she did not answer.
“I then received a message from her phone on October 26 asking for R2 000. I asked why she needed the money and she said it was for something urgent. I tried to call her but she would not respond so I did not send the money,” he said.
The bodies of Dudu Khoza,
46, her daughter Nomfundo, 28, a grade one teacher at Reametswe Primary School in Orange Farm, and Luyanda were found under a pile of sand in a bedroom at the house on Monday.
The other deceased were Nondumiso, Nomfundo’s children Karabo, 11, and Khanyiso, 2, and Dudu’s sister Mbali. Their bodies were found in an outside room.
Nomfundo’s friend Sinikizo Mkhonza said she tried to call her on Monday but she did not answer.
“She started to text me but the messages did not sound like they were from her.” MEC for community safety Sizakele Nkosi-Malobane said they believed the family were killed on October 19 with a sharp object. Nkosi-Malobane said a man believed to be behind the murders, Sibusiso Ernest Khoza, wormed his way into the family about three months ago by claiming he was a long-lost relative. However, police investigations revealed the suspect was an imposter who hails from Zimbabwe, she said. She said a task team has been set up to track him down.
A tenant at the house Luis Ander Cossa, 32, who started complaining about a foul smell coming from an outside room last week Tuesday, said Sibusiso told him he had put rat poison in the room. He said Sibusiso was collecting sand with a wheelbarrow on Thursday and Friday. “He said the landlady told him she wanted to level a room outside. On Sunday the smell was so strong I almost vomited. There were flies on the window. He asked me what could reduce the smell and I told him an air freshener and he went to buy it but it did not work. We asked to help him remove the rat but he refused,” he said.