Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Philippi killing fields claim more victims
IT WAS once the killing fields of serial killer Jimmy Maketta, dubbed “The Jesus Killer”, who terrorised the Philippi farming community by killing husbands and raping wives.
This week, a murder with striking similarities, evoked memories of the past for residents and former police officers.
The community has called for a specialised farming patrol unit which existed in the 1990s, where police officers on horseback, quad bikes and motorbikes combed the grounds.
The farming grounds have become the dumping ground for bodies and yesterday the police were called to a second scene where the body of a man with multiple injuries was found along Old Weltrevreden Road, Philippi, just after 8am.
On Thursday, just after 8.30pm residents of Philippi near Schaapkraal and Rocklands, Mitchells Plain, bore witness to another crime scene where the body of a man, between the ages of 35 and 40, was found buried in a shallow grave.
An image of the graphic scene circulated, depicting a naked man in a shallow grave not yet covered by sand next to Jakes Gerwel Drive, Philippi. Wounds to his head were also visible. It had been the man’s wife, a 34-yearold woman, naked and bleeding, who flagged down residents and motorists.
The police have yet to confirm whether the woman had been raped.
The woman was taken to Mitchells Plain District Hospital.
Social media was abuzz with claims that the attack had been a cleansing ritual gone wrong and that the woman had managed to escape her attacker.
The woman’s frantic screams can be heard on a voice note widely shared on social media.
“Anyone who can assist, I am on Weltevreden Road, just past Westgate Mall in the direction of Rocklands (Philippi), I have a female who was just raped now by a suspect, the suspect stabbed the husband and she is not sure if this person killed her husband, I have the female here, she is naked in the road, anyone who can assist me.”
In a matter of 12 hours, Philippi police attended two separate crime scenes. Police spokesperson, Captain FC van Wyk confirmed the first scene.
It has yet to be determined whether the scenes are linked.
It has been confirmed the couple are residents of Samora Machel, 16km from the murder scene.
“Philippi police are investigating a murder case after the body of an unknown male aged between 35 to 40 was found in a bush next to Jakes Gerwel Drive, Philippi,” said Van Wyk.
“According to reports on March 31 at about 8.30pm the body was found by neighbourhood watch members, naked in a shallow grave in the sand. He had a large wound across the back of his head.
“A 34-year-old woman was found near the scene, screaming for help. She was injured and very traumatised. She was taken to a nearby hospital for medical treatment by ambulance.”
Police spokesperson Sergeant Wesley Twigg said of the second scene: “Philippi police attended a crime scene this morning, April 1, in Weltevreden Road, Philippi, at about 8am, where the body of an unknown male was found with multiple injuries to his head and body. The victim was declared deceased on the scene by paramedics.
“A murder case was registered for investigation. The suspect/s fled the scene and are yet to be arrested.”
Maketta, who died in prison, had terrorised the small farming community of Philippi from April to December 2005 and was deemed a psychopath by a state psychiatrist.
He had been dubbed the “Jesus Killer” because victims claimed he had the name tattooed on his chest.
He was convicted of murdering 16 people and raping 19 women, some of whom were married.
Jannie Ruppersberg, a former Philippi police officer, who had been part of the farm patrol during the 1990s and is part of the Schaapkraal Community Forum, said they never forgot the murderers such as Maketta and called for a specialised unit.
“Maketta, we will never forget that case and one of the residents had assisted with his arrests.
“I was part of the farm police patrol and we used to do patrols on the farms with the horse or quad bikes or motorbikes and that was visible policing, and we are calling for that unit to set up again as they never said why they disbanded it,” he said.
His wife, Jackie, said the area had to share a police station with residents from Hanover Park.
“The problem with the crime in both areas is that we have to share a police station with Hanover Park and communities have grown and not the police.”
Activist and crime fighter, Redaa Ameerodien, who has been living in the community for 25 years, said the latest murder had evoked memories of Maketta’s murders and called for more policing.
“We won’t forget that brutal murders. We call for more visible policing on vacant land and bushes.”
Rocklands Neighbourhood Watch member Cedric Daniels had been dispatched to the crime scene on Thursday.
“What we went out to was a terrible sight, a woman had been attacked and was bleeding and the police asked us not to go near the scene.”
Philippi/Schaapkraal ward councillor Elton Jansen said the farming grounds had sadly become the dumping grounds for killers and called for housing developments which had been proposed to be sped up.
Jansen recalled the murders carried out by Maketta; the murder of Meghan Cremer, 30, the show jumper, who had been strangled to death in August 2019 and her body dumped along Old Weltrevreden Road; the murder of Michael Davids, the Emergency dispatcher who was murdered and his body found along Olieboom Road in Philippi in July 2018; and the murder of Michaela Williams, 12, who was raped and beaten and her body dumped under trees in Schaapkraal, Philippi in January 2020.
It was also the dumping grounds of former soldier Alvin van der Berg, now dead, who was convicted and sentenced for the murder of his children in 2012 and 2014 in Jim Se Bos in Philippi.
“This area has been notorious for dumping ground,” he said.
“The Western Cape government needs to formalise and finalise housing in deserted areas and bush. They now need to fast-track where human settlements have bought the land.”
Bongani Maqungwana of the Samora Machel community police station, said they were yet to be informed of the victims who were from their community.