Bodies found at Coega
Murder victims believed to be four men abducted in Kwazakhele last week
THE bodies of four men believed to have been abducted last week in Port Elizabeth were found in bushes about 20 metres from a gravel road in Coega at the weekend. Two herdsmen looking for their cattle discovered the bodies on Saturday morning.
Police spokesman Captain Andre Beetge said early indications were that the men had been stabbed and strangled.
“The four bodies found need to be identified by their next-of-kin and the official cause of death determined through an autopsy.”
Beetge said police suspected the bodies were those of four men abducted last week in Kwazakhele.
“An unknown number of persons allegedly abducted four males at gunpoint from the home of one of the males in Maqhubela Street and left with them in a white VW Jetta.”
Three of the men abducted are Athenkosi Stephen, 21, Nyaniso Maso, 30, and Sive Vanqa, 26.
The fourth man has not yet been identified.
Maso’s mother, Nokuphumla Maso, said she witnessed her son and the other three men being abducted at about midnight.
“At around 11.57pm on Wednesday I heard noises coming from where they were and I woke up to go and see what was going on,” she said.
“When I got there, a man was standing at the door with a gun in his hand. When he saw me he pointed the gun at me and told me to go back inside the house.”
She said she asked the man why and he repeated the instruction.
“Soon I heard my son’s voice telling me to go back inside.
“He was begging and pleading with me to go. I did as he asked.
“That was the last time I heard from him.”
Nokuphumla said once she was back inside the house she had asked her daughter to peek through the window. “She went to look and started screaming that they were taking her brother away.
“They were dragging them towards the car with guns in their hands.
“There was a white car standing outside, I can’t tell you how they managed to get all four of them inside . . . all I know is that they did.”
Nokuphumla said they called the police, who arrived about an hour later.
“We went inside his shack and found it ransacked with most of my son’s belongings broken and in a mess.”
She said one of the other men who was abducted had earlier left a bag containing phones, laptops and other gadgets in her son’s house.
“I suspect whatever happened was because of this backpack that belonged to the unknown friend.
“I can’t be too sure but I have my suspicions.”
Stephen’s father, Luvuyo Stephen, said his son had left after supper to visit Maso, who lived down the street.
“He goes to Nyaniso’s place a lot so him being there was not strange at all.
“Except little did we know that he would not come back this time.”
He said the police had already told them the bodies found at Coega were likely to be those of the four men abducted.
The families are due to formally identify the bodies today.