News24 | Eight people arrested for 2023 vigilante mob killings after child’s body found in pit toilet

Eight people were arrested in connection with a vigilante attack that claimed three lives in Vaalbank, Mpumalanga, in 2023.

• Eight people were arrested in connection with a 2023 vigilante attack in Vaalbank.
• Three people were killed in the attack and two vehicles torched.
• The attack followed the discovery of an eight-year-old girl’s body in a pit toilet.

Eight people have been arrested in connection with a vigilante mob attack that claimed three lives in Vaalbank, Mpumalanga, in 2023.

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The arrests follow an intensive investigation by the provincial Murder and Robbery Unit into a case that began with the disappearance of an eight-year-old girl.

The child went missing on 12 February 2023 in the Bloedfontein area. Her body was later discovered inside a pit toilet.

Days after the grisly discovery, on 18 February 2023, police were called to a horrific scene, where 53-year-old Zele Machika; 22-year-old Thabo Maubane; and 51-year-old Paulinah Maubane, who lived on the premises where the child’s body was found, had been beaten to death and two of their vehicles – a Ford Bantam and a VW Jetta 4 – had been torched.

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The eight people who have now been arrested for the crime include three men and five women. They have been identified as Gilbert Tlaka, 58; Alidah Ramatsetse, 56; Grace Mashiane, 55; Fridah Komape, 53; Mamsi Sambo, 56; Simon Kotlolo, 51; Giveness Maja, 51; and George Modiba, 55.

They appeared in the Mbibane Magistrate’s Court on Friday and are due back in the dock on 12 November for a bail application.

Acting provincial police commissioner, Major General Zeph Mkhwanazi, praised the investigating team for their perseverance.

“It is unfortunate that a family lost their lives in such a barbaric act. We cannot bring them back, but we hope the community will learn that taking the law into their own hands is never the solution. Justice always prevails, and the truth eventually comes out,” he said.

Mkhwanazi urged communities to refrain from vigilantism and to report suspected criminal activities to law enforcement authorities instead.