Two days before she was gruesomely murdered in cold blood, the Bloemfontein-born University of Witwatersrand student Olorato Mongale, 30, met her killer.
Mongale’s funeral service is expected to be held in the City Hall in Bloemfontein today (Sunday), and be buried at Bainsvlei cemetery.
Her funeral came three days after her moving memorial service in Mahube Tumelo Hall in
Bloemfontein on Thursday.
Police revealed that Mongale met her killers on May 23 in one of the malls in Bloemfontein, while she was with her mother, Poppy Mongale.
According to the national police spokesperson, Colonel Athlenda Mathe, one of Mongale’s murderers, Philangenkosi Sibongokuhle Makhanya, was killed on Friday, in a shootout with police in a residential complex in Amanzimtoti, KwaZulu-Natal.
Mathe stated that before Makhanya was cornered by the hard-working KwaZulu-Natal police, led by the well-known provincial commissioner, Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, his mother tipped him off that they were looking for him in Kwamashu township.
“When he heard that the police were looking for him, he called his friend, who rents cars, to come and collect him. He told his friends everything regarding how he met Olorato in Bloemfontein two days before he killed her in Johannesburg last Sunday. Philangenkosi saw Olorato at one of the malls in Bloemfontein, and he followed her while she was shopping with her mother.
“This is where he exchanged contacts with Olorato, and they later met in Johannesburg. He fetched her from her residence, and she was later found dead in Lombardy West. Her lifeless body was ejected from the white VW Polo. Police later found the vehicle at the panel beater in Phoenix,” said Mathe.
According to police, Makhanya and one of his accomplices, Bongani Mthimkhulu from Zola, Soweto, who is on the run, have been targeting women at various shopping centres across the country. They would kidnap and rob them, using the white VW Polo, which is now impounded by police as evidence in the various police investigations in kidnappings, murders and robberies the duo committed.
Mongale’s aunt, Dr Maureen Mongale, told Sunday World on Thursday in Bloemfontein after the memorial service that her niece was a victim of kidnapping.
“Olorato was kidnapped by those people who murdered her, and the police are working on the case. That’s all I can say,” said Mongale’s aunt.
Mongale’s mother refused to comment.
Mongale family spokesperson, Criselda Kananda, said: “Respectfully, the family doesn’t want to comment on issues related to the autopsy, and Olorato’s mother has requested not to comment on any of the issues raised here. We continue to hope that the South African Police Service will help us with closure and justice for Olorato and many victims will continue to be served.”
Mathe pointed out that Makhanya and Mthimkhulu have been terrorising women across the country with cases of murder, kidnapping, and robbery opened in Mpumalanga, Free State, North West, Limpopo and Gauteng.
“We have cracked a romance syndicate that operated across the country. We have many cases that are registered with the police linking Makhanya and Mthimkhulu,” said Mathe.
She also said that on Saturday, police cleared Fezile Ngubane, who was initially identified as a suspect.
She said that Ngubane was a car washer and lived in the same neighbourhood as Makhanya, who was shot dead by the police.
