Terrified five-year-old told of horror abduction before murder of his friends

When a mother returned home after 5pm on Wednesday, her five-year-old son was not at their house.

Two hours later he ran in screaming, gesturing that a man had slit the throats of his friends Nqobizitha Zulu, 5, and Tshiamo Rabanye, 6.

The mother did not believe him until news broke in the morning that the two boys had been brutally murdered in a crime that shocked the community of White City in Soweto.

Gauteng police are investigating murder cases after the bodies of the two children were found mutilated yesterday morning, one in White City and the other in Rockville.

The mother said: “My son told me two men driving in a blue car grabbed the three of them while they were playing in the street. He said one man was fat and the other slender. I do not know how he managed to escape.”

Provincial police spokesperson Col Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi said the two children were reported missing on Wednesday night at Moroka police station, and a team consisting of police, search and rescue teams and community members was activated.

On Thursday dozens of people gathered near veld in Rockville where Zulu’s lifeless body was found. Rabanye was found in a street in White City, about 1.5km from where Zulu’s body was found.

The children were last seen playing outside Rabanye’s home in Langa Street. Zulu stayed in Ramaite Street, less than 100m away.

The scene in Rockville was cordoned off with police tape while police and forensic pathologists combed the area for evidence.

Zulu’s mother Nomthandazo and grandmother Mapiti Tshabalala asked to view his body before it was taken to the mortuary.

His mother cried hysterically after seeing her son’s body. Tshabalala fainted and was assisted by paramedics.

A community member who spoke to Sowetan on condition of anonymity said he was one of the first people to arrive at the scene when Zulu’s body, with multiple stab wounds, was discovered.

“He was stabbed in the neck and all over the body,” said the community member.

He said some of his organs were removed.

A member of the community policing forum, Vusi Maseko, said Rabanye’s body was discovered at about 4.30am while Zulu’s was found around 7am.

“When we found the little boy [Rabanye] it was a gruesome scene. His throat was cut and his testicles removed,” said Maseko.

Both children attended Isiseko Primary School in White City. Zulu lived with Tshabalala and Rabanye lived with his grandmother Nqobile Ndlovu.

Rabanye’s father died in 2020 and his mother in 2021.

Tshabalala said when her grandson did not come home at 5pm, she got worried.

“I went looking for him at Tshiamo’s home but he was not there. I informed neighbours and we started looking for him. We went to open a case at the police station around 8pm ... This is painful to accept. He was a sweet boy who was not troublesome,” said Tshabalala.

Ndlovu described her grandson as a loving child. “He loved playing and when he wanted something he would cry. He always asked me for R1 to buy sweets,” she said.

Ward councillor Papi Chetsanga said there have not been recent cases of child abductions and mutilation in White City.

Provincial police commissioner Lt-Gen Elias Mawela said police resources have been mobilised to find the perpetrators.

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