Canals deliver more gruesome finds
CAPE Town’s horror week of floating corpses continued yesterday as police had their hands full retrieving bodies in Kuils River and Driftsands canals.
Three bodies were found at a canal in Sarepta, Kuils River, yesterday morning and a few hours later another was recovered at Driftsands in a canal that runs along the Covid-19 informal settlement.
Police spokesperson Novela Potelwa said police were called out to the Sarepta canal at about 6am after passers-by spotted the bodies of two women and a man in the water.
Potelwa said their bodies had gunshot wounds and several cartridge cases were discovered in the vicinity.
She said the police had instituted a 72-hour activation plan for the mobilisation of resources in search of the suspect/s and determining the motive for the murders.
“At this point of the investigation, the identities of the deceased persons remain unknown,” said Potelwa.
In a separate incident in Driftsands canal another body was discovered in the stream by community members.
Potelwa said that police divers retrieved the body from the water but the deceased was yet to be identified yesterday.
The discovery of the four bodies from different canals comes four days after a decomposed body was found floating in Driftsands.
That, too, came a day after the body of 15-year-old Asonele Wanga, one of the four victims of an alleged mob justice attack, was discovered in the same canal at the weekend.
Wanga’s body was discovered a few days after two other unidentified bodies were found floating in the same canal as the police divers were searching for the bodies of Wanga, Maphelo Mazamisa, 23, Sabelo Rasmeni, 21, and Yonela Mdladlama, 22. The bodies of the other three had not yet been found.
Community Safety MEC Albert Fritz said they have noted the discovery of a number of bodies disposed of in rivers and canals.
Fritz said this was a concern for them as in the case of Sarepta, community members found the bodies. That could so easily have been children playing nearby.
“It is not the kind of environment that we want to foster for our children to grow up in. But, equally concerning, is the number of people being killed,” said Fritz.
Provincial Community Policing Forum board chairperson Fransina Lukas said they needed drastic action to restore law and order in their communities.
“As communities we must be united in condemning these killings and work with police to restore peace and the rule of law,” said Lukas.
Anyone with information can contact the Crime Stop number 08600 10111 or via the MySAPSApp.