Kgopotso Moseamedi, 11, was kidnapped and killed in the South African Limpopo village of Makgakgabatse. A woman has been detained in connection with the crime.

After the old woman denied the woman’s offer to provide her mother-in-law two children for an ancestor’s rite, the woman is accused of attacking her and abducting her granddaughter.

The elderly woman, who was allegedly attacked in her home in the Makgakgabatse hamlet, and her 11-year-old granddaughter were the two incidents that led to the 37-year-old woman’s arrest in Gauteng.

Limpopo Police spokesperson, Brigadier Motlafela Mojapelo, in a statement on Saturday, March 11, 2023, said the decomposing body of the 11-year-old girl was found in the bushes at Manganya Farm next to Ga-Maphalla outside Giyani on Friday. She was found hanged with a rope under a tree.

“On Sunday, March 5, at about midnight, an elderly woman, aged 75, was allegedly awoken by her daughter-in-law who knocked at the door, saying she brought her two kids for ancestral rituals and was surprised to see her in the company of an unknown man,” he said.  

“The two allegedly left soon after their request was denied. Three hours later at about 3am the elderly woman was attacked, strangled and left for dead by unknown men who in the process, kidnapped the little girl,” said Mojapelo. 

He said cases of attempted murder and kidnapping were opened and investigations commenced.

“Information on the whereabouts of the woman was received and the police traced and arrested her in Kempton Park in Gauteng.

“Members of Giyani FCS, Tzaneen K9 and Giyani Crime Prevention conducted a search operation for the kidnapped girl and sadly, her tiny decomposing body was found hanged with a rope under a tree,” he said.

He said the motive for the incident was unknown at this stage and anyone with information should contact Captain Nhlazine Ngomani on 082 319 9889, crime stop number 08600 10111 or the nearest police station.

Limpopo provincial commissioner of police, Lieutenant General Thembi Hadebe has ordered that the other perpetrators be hunted down and brought to book.

“These type of incidents in which the most vulnerable members of our society are attacked and brutally killed, deserve condemnation by everyone and we therefore call on community members with information to assist the police in the investigation,” she said.

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