Family shattered by ‘cruel’ killing

Adéle Bloem

“I am heartbroken and sad. I don’t even want to talk about the incident. Words cannot describe what I feel,” Orapeleng Molelekedi, 29, told Roodeport Record, finding it hard to stop the tears.

Kopano Molelekedi was visiting her mother for the weekend, and the short taxi ride from her father’s house in Roodepoort to the Jerusalema informal settlement was one that she had taken many times before. But no one could have predicted the events that played out on the morning of September 6.

“Kopano was supposed to come visit us, but she never arrived. At about 8.30am I phoned her father to ask him where she was, and he told me that she should have been there by now,” said Orapeleng.

“I did not believe him, and went to his house to look for her, but she was not there.”

Orapeleng said that upon her return, a community member informed her that Kopano was hit by a car when she tried to cross the road and before anyone could do anything, the car occupants got out, picked her up and said they would take her to hospital.

“We immediately went to the police station and opened a missing person’s case,” she said.

“The detective told us to make sure Kopano wasn’t at school and if she was not there, we should phone him. I went to Durban Deep Primary, where she was a pupil, but they told me that she was not there and I phoned the detective to inform him.”

Orapeleng added that they spent the entire weekend visiting the police station and various hospitals, but to no avail.

“When my cousin visited Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital on Saturday afternoon, someone working there said he recognised the girl in the photo,” she said.

He told my cousin that a body was brought in on Thursday afternoon, matching Kopano’s description. He said that Kopano was raped before her body was dumped.

Orapeleng said that the body that had been found at Pennyville Park, near Soweto, was positively identified as Kopano’s yesterday morning.

“Kopano was always such a happy, friendly child who got along with everyone,” Orapeleng said. “She loved playing with the other children.

“She was an intelligent child, and we had high expectations of her. I cannot believe that someone could be so cruel and heartless ...” – Caxton News Service

Someone working at Baragwanath said he recognised the girl in the photo.

Orapeleng Molelekedi Family relative of Kopano