Joburg sex workers murder: Bodies found in different locations in building

Five decomposing bodies of sex workers were discovered in different areas in a building in the Johannesburg CBD: in a dustbin, hidden under plastic, in the back of a van, in a chimney and in a dustbin hidden in an unused truck. 

The father of Sifiso Mkhwanazi, 21, who is accused of raping and killing six sex workers between April and October 2022, took the stand on Tuesday to continue his testimony.  

Mark Khumalo continued his testimony on Tuesday at the Johannesburg high court, sitting in Palm Ridge. He described how the other five bodies were discovered after the discovery of the first body in a building used by a panelbeating business in the Johannesburg CBD. 

It was only when the caretaker, Khumalo and the other tenant at the building, decided to clean the entire yard after police had collected the first body that the others were found.

The first body was discovered in one of the offices inside the workshop. 

The court heard that people who were at the yard on that Sunday decided to clean up as they wanted to continue with their operations on Monday. 

“We decided to clean up everything after the police had taken the first body,” he said, adding that at the time it was him, two security guards, a police official, another tenant and a neighbour. 

It was only when they were cleaning with a hose that the water stopped flowing to the drainage inlet close to the chimney. They subsequently used brooms to try to unblock the drainage outside the workshop. 

“On that chimney we saw some flies flying around, others were dead. Then we went to inspect what was happening. When we looked there, we saw there is a body.

“It was decaying but you could see the body of a human being because it was tied with rope,” he said.

He said the police officer with them at the time called back the forensic pathologists who had just left with the first body, as well as other police officials. 

“Before they came, one of the caretakers and the neighbour said: ‘We need to check this place thoroughly. If this is the second body, you might find another one. Let us just check.’

“One of the security guards started going on the side of the chimney — there is a passage — he noticed a dustbin covered with a tyre on top,” he testified. 

He told the court the guard stopped while on his way to the dustbin when he saw some  white plastic. “He [the guard] realised there was a body [under the plastic].”

Meanwhile, the court has ordered that a trial-within-a-trial be heard to consider the admissibility of the confession Mkhwanazi allegedly made to his father while the matter was in the Johannesburg magistrate’s court. 

The trial continues. 

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