Hacked to death, dumped in a drain, crushed with a boulder: faces of children failed by the system

Katlego Joja, or Katli as she was affectionately known, went missing from home in Mamelodi West, Gauteng, on April 26 2018. She was 10 years old and autistic.

Her mother was the last person to see her as she walked to the local nursery school, run by her granny. They realised she was missing when she failed to arrive, and the search began.

Police turned the family away, saying wait 24 hours.

#NotInMyNameSA led protests in the area and two weeks later Missing Children South Africa announced that her body had been found, floating in the Moretele River. The cause of death is unknown. No arrests were made.

Her uncle Thabiso Storom said the family gathers every year on Katli’s birthday to light a candle in her memory.

Two decades ago Lucas Phasha chased his girlfriend with a gun. He shot at her and missed but the bullet killed a neighbour’s child.

He only served a few years in prison and later married Sylvia Moneyla, with whom he had four children. In early 2020 he posted an angry rant on Facebook accusing her of cheating and infecting him with HIV. He made reference to killing their children and wrote: “I am very angry at her, her friends and her lovers. She will never see us again and must die of Aids. My wife really hurt me.”

On February 18 his children were found dead in Sekhukhune, Limpopo - the three older children Katlego, 9, Joyce, 7, and Tshepo, 5, had been hacked to death with an axe and the youngest, Adel, 3, bludgeoned to death with a rock.

Phasha received four life sentences and was declared unfit to carry a firearm.

The Phasha siblings – Katlego, 9, Joyce, 7, Tshepo, 5, and Adel, 3. (Supplied)

Simphiwe Sibeko was a grade 9 pupil at Aurora Girls High when she went missing on April 3 2020 in Dobsonville, Soweto. Her mother reported the disappearance.

The next day the 14-year-old’s body was found in an open field between Mndeni and Naledi. She had been brutally murdered.

Her mother, Nandi, said two people were arrested in connection with the murder. One was a 22-year-old who allegedly confessed to the killing and the other was 17. But the case was dropped and the charges were withdrawn.

“They let my daughter’s killers free. I am angry. My daughter was killed and no-one is held to account,” the distraught mother told the Sowetan at the time.

Bandile Skosana, 4, went missing while playing in the yard with a neighbour's child — the only friend he had in Rethabiseng township. He was visiting his father and grandmother on May 29 2020 during lockdown.

Less than 48 hours later Bandile’s body was found 2km from his paternal home in Bronkhorstpruit, east of Pretoria. The child had been stabbed 18 times, assaulted and crushed with a boulder. No arrests have been made.

“Yes, we have buried him, but the pain is still there. We have so many unanswered questions behind his attack because he was just a child and wronged no-one,” his mother, Sindile Mthembu, told the media at the time.

The family goes to Bandile’s grave each year on his birthday and lays flowers.

In June 2021 Joseph Phage was arrested for stabbing his girlfriend, Betty Sithole, mother of 10-year-old Kamogelo Sithole, and assaulting her sister.

On November 4, when he was due to appear in court for the attacks, Phage escaped from the court precinct.

Shortly afterwards, Betty reported Kamogelo missing at the local police station because the child had disappeared from school.

Three days later Phage was rearrested after Kamogelo’s body was found hidden under his bed inside his shack in Sonderwater informal settlement, at Ikageng near Potchefstroom.

Phage kidnapped her from school. He confessed to strangling the child with a cable and was sentenced to life in prison.

Hlayiseko Precious Ngobeni was two years old when she went missing from her village home at about noon on October 12 2022.

She was found dead a day later. She was known to be from Rwanda N’wamitwa on the outskirts of Tzaneen in Limpopo. Her body was found by the community in the bush in nearby Gubetse. No arrests have been made.

Her aunt, Nkensani Maluleka, said the murder had been a huge shock and that "her mother is not coping. She is having sleepless nights, nightmares and often calls out her daughter’s name while she is asleep. We also do not have closure since no-one has been arrested’.’

On September 3 2020 the tiny body of 20-month-old Bokamoso Mpembe was found on a farm on the outskirts of Petrus Steyn in the Free State, bringing a four-day search to a horrific end.

She had been kidnapped and murdered by her mother's ex-boyfriend, Chepete Mngomezulu, who was on parole after being convicted of assault.

Mngomezulu kidnapped Bokamoso from her home after a fight with the toddler's mother Khony Mpembe.

Bokamoso's corpse was found between trees near a farmhouse where Mngomezulu worked. His body was discovered hanging from a roof at one of the houses on the farm after he committed suicide.

The incident sparked outrage across SA as it was later discovered that Mngomezulu, 33, was out on parole after being convicted of assaulting Mpembe and stabbing her multiple times.

He had been released on parole as part of government's drive to curb the spread of Covid. Prisoners were released early to avoid overcrowding in prisons.

One of the men accused of murdering 13-year-old Snegugu Dlamini in 2019 was among community members who searched for her after she disappeared.

The 20-year-old was out on parole when he allegedly killed Snegugu, who lived in a Pietermaritzburg informal settlement with her family. It was alleged at the time that he snatched the special needs child as she played near her home.

Her family had always kept a close eye on her whereabouts because of her condition and, when she not seen by 2pm, a search party was formed. The suspect and his brother joined the search.

A two-day search by police and community members was unsuccessful.

A day later her mother Phumeza Dlamini found Sinegugu’s lifeless body, naked from the waist down, lying on a pile of rubbish at a river used as a dump by the community.

A community member noticed a shack – where the brothers lived – without its usual padlock. Inside they found blood and an item of clothing. Both brothers were arrested and are facing charges of rape and murder.

A Pinetown woman who kidnapped and butchered her 10-year-old neighbour in 2019 had seven previous convictions when she committed the crime.

In May the Durban high court convicted and sentenced Zandile Nsele, 40, to life and 25 years’ imprisonment for the kidnapping and murder of Sphumelelo Mzimba. Nsele was also sentenced on three counts of attempted extortion and contravention of the National Health Act.

Sphumelelo lived with her mother in the same area as Nsele. They were acquainted and often visited each other’s homes.

Nsele, unemployed and experiencing financial problems, kidnapped the girl and planned to demand a ransom. The state alleged she had also planned to kill the child and sell her organs or soft tissue.

Nsele lured the child to her home under the pretext of giving her a packet of chips. Nsele bound her neck and ankles, which caused her death. It emerged during the trial that Nsele then removed some of her organs and disposed of the body. That night Nsele contacted the child's mother demanding R20,000 for her safe return. The next morning she fled to Johannesburg and was arrested shortly afterwards.

The body of Reagan Gertse, 8, from Tulbagh, was found in the bushes on a river bank in February 2020. Reagan’s friends told his parents that he was last seen walking with an older man.

Parolee Jakobus Petoors, 53, a neighbour, was convicted of kidnapping, rape and murder, and sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment.

Petoors had several previous convictions for sexual offences, the first when he was just 17.

Reagan was his fourth conviction on a sexual offence, and his sixth for a violent crime.

In July 2012, he was convicted of raping and assaulting a boy and sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment. He was released on parole after serving seven years, and three months later killed Reagan.

The body of Tazne van Wyk, 8, from Elsies River in Cape Town, was found dumped in a stormwater drain near the N2 highway towards Worcester in 2020. The man arrested for the murder, Moehydien Pangaker had been released on parole after being convicted of culpable homicide, child abuse and kidnapping.

Her murder prompted justice and correctional services minister Ronald Lamola to urge the country's parole boards to heed the public outcry over violence against children. At the time, Lamola admitted that his department had been found wanting.