When Sowetan arrived at the home of little Tshiamo Rabanye in Soweto last week, we were introduced to his relative who would be the family spokesperson on his tragic murder.
With red, teary eyes, the woman seated in the living room with other family members related how six-year-old Tshiamo was a “loving child” who loved to play.
She shared how supposedly worried she was when she returned home last Wednesday evening and realised that he had not returned home as yet. She claimed she immediately began looking for him.
On Tuesday, the 50-year-old woman was taken in for questioning and later arrested, alongside her 39-year-old partner, for the murder of Tshiamo and his friend, five-year-old Nqobizitha Zulu, in a gruesome crime that has shocked the nation.
Police sources say a neighbour allegedly spotted her throwing away bloody clothes, presumed to belong to the woman. The sources claimed that the woman later confessed to the police about the murders.
During our interview last week, the woman said: “Tshiamo loved playing and when he wanted something he would cry. He always asked me for R1 to buy sweets.”
She also shared pictures of the boy from the cellphone of one of the family members with Sowetan and jokingly spoke of the shape of his ears.
During the interview, the woman claimed how she looked for the child at her neighbours’ homes but could not find him. She said later that night, she reported him missing at Moroka police station.
The woman said she joined community patrollers to help in the search for the boys.
“While we were searching at Thokoza Park, one of the patrollers called me at about 6.45am [last Thursday] and told me that a body of a child had been found near a school. “When we went to the scene, I could not look at his body. I could tell by the clothes that it was him,” she said at the time.
She said Tshiamo lived with her after his father died in 2020 and his mother in 2021. Shortly after the interview, she said she was going to sleep and disappeared into one of the rooms in the house.
Gauteng police spokesperson Lt-Col Mavela Masondo said the woman and her partner were arrested following a forensic investigation at the boys’ homes, and subsequently brought the two suspects in for questioning.
Masondo said the duo has since been charged with two counts of murder and will appear in the Protea magistrate’s court today. He said police could not divulge more information as that might compromise their investigation.
The bodies of the two children were found mutilated last week Thursday, one in White City and the other in Rockville.
Nqobizitha’s lifeless body was found in Rockville and Tshiamo’s was found on a street in White City, about 1.5km from where Nqobizitha’s body was found.
The children were last seen playing outside Tshiamo’s home on Langa Street. Nqobizitha stayed on Ramaite Street, less than 100m away.
They were pupils at Isiseko Primary School in White City.
Ward councillor Papi Chetsanga said he was disappointed that one of the people arrested for the gruesome killings was related to one of the children.
“We are glad that police have made arrests. We can see that they are working tirelessly on this case,” he said.
Chatsanga said a joint funeral service will be held today for Nqobizitha and Tshiamo at Jabavu Stadium in Soweto.
He said they will be buried at Olifantsvlei Cemetery, south of Johannesburg.
kokam@sowetan.co.za
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