A co-ordinated operation by police and a private security company took four days to track down one of Olorato Mongale’s suspected killers, Philangenkosi Makhanya. The encounter ended with his death in a bloody shootout.
The Sunday Times can reveal that on Monday night police contacted Vision Tactical — a security service company that works closely with the SAPS anti-kidnapping unit — for help in tracing the suspects.
Olorato was kidnapped on Sunday in Athol, Johannesburg, at about 2.45pm. She was found dead on a pavement in the city's Lombardy East suburb at about 4.30pm the same day.
Vision Tactical director Yaseen Theba said that on Monday evening, national police spokesperson Brig Athlenda Mathe called him and asked for assistance in tracing the suspects.
“She sent me all the information police had gathered. On Tuesday morning, we jumped in with everything we had,” Theba said.
“We immediately realised there were two other incidents over the past two months that might also be linked to these suspects — two women who were also dropped off dead next to the road. Investigations into these two matters are ongoing.”
Theba said they started tracking and tracing the vehicle the suspects used.
“It was a light-grey Volkswagen, not white as was reported. We found that the vehicle plates were cloned, which indicated a degree of premeditation. This does not necessarily mean they planned to murder her. It could have been a plan to rob.”
Cameras picked up the vehicle coming into Alexandra township at about 1pm on Sunday.
“He [Makhanya] drove through Alex and went to a lodge in Kew. He arrived with a passenger in the car, but entered the lodge alone. He asked for a room rate and was unhappy with the quote.
“They then leave the lodge and drive to a semi-enclosed area where they spend about 20 minutes, before driving to Athol where they picked up the victim at 2.45pm. He pulled into the driveway, then realised there were cameras and pulled out to reverse park further away.
“On the security footage you can see her [Olorato] get into the car. We know the second suspect was there because she entered in the back.”
Two days earlier, Olorato told a friend she had met “John” in Bloemfontein, and that they were speaking and things were looking good.
“On Sunday, she told the friend she was going on a date with the guy and shared her live location. She also asked the friend to phone her at certain intervals so they could keep in contact about what was happening,” Theba said.
When the friend couldn’t reach her, she became anxious and went looking for Olorato with another friend.
“She told us that by that time there must have been at least 15 missed calls from her on Olorato’s phone. This was at about 4.30pm. At about 5.30pm, she went to the lodge where the suspects stopped earlier before picking up Olorato. The live location showed Olorato's phone to be at that location.”
The residents did not allow her to enter and she left, but saw a marked Johannesburg metropolitan police department (JMPD) vehicle close by and flagged it down.
“They told the officer their story and he accompanied them back to the address. This time they found Olorato’s bag and phone outside. It was not visible, so it had been easy to miss when they were there earlier,” Theba said.
This development immediately escalated the matter.
“At about 11pm, the two friends retraced Olorato’s steps and went to the area near the lodge. They saw a police officer who lives there. When they told the officer what they were doing, he told them a woman’s body had been found at about 4.30pm.”
The two friends then went to Bramley police station, where Olorato’s identity was confirmed.
Once we had the real plates, we could trace them to the second lodge they stopped at and eventually stayed. At this lodge Makhanya signed in at security and that is where we got his number
— Yaseen Theba, Vision Tactical director
“After the killers dumped the body, the vehicle left the area heading towards Johannesburg South. They hit the road to Durban at about 11pm on Sunday,” Theba said.
He said they had established this from licence plate recognition cameras and phone towers.
“Along the way, the suspects removed the cloned number plates and replaced them with the real ones. This was when the breakthrough came. Once we had the real plates, we could trace them to the second lodge they stopped at and eventually stayed. At this lodge, Makhanya signed in at security and that is where we got his number.”
Theba said they had overlaid the phone information on the triangulated vehicle movements — and they matched.
“On the NaTIS system [the National Traffic Information System] it showed that this vehicle had been impounded last month in Brakpan as part of the kidnapping and robbery arrest of Makhanya and his accomplice, Bongani Mthimkhulu.”
It is believed Mthimkhulu was also in the car when Olorato was killed. Police are trying to locate him.
On Wednesday the entire tracing team flew to Durban.
“We tracked the car to a panel beater workshop. The suspect had taken the car to be washed and to polish out a minor bump he had,” Theba said.
“When we lifted the back seat, we found a lot of blood, visible to the naked eye. Enough to convince us that the car had been the scene of the murder.
“We then went for the owner of the car, Makhanya’s father. When we got to their house in KwaMashu, the mother alerted the suspect that police were looking for him. That is why she was arrested. The father was arrested because he owned the vehicle.
“They were released on Friday, after their son was shot and killed by [the police].”
Further investigations led the team to a lodge in the same area.
“At the lodge we found two sets of cloned plates. On cameras we found that the suspect [Makhanya] was picked up in a silver Polo at one of the addresses we had in our sights.
“The owner of the silver Polo led us to where he dropped off Makhanya. Information [from there] led us to the apartment building where Makhanya was killed by police on Thursday evening. In this apartment we found 28 ID cards and 20 phones in a safe,” Theba said.
“When the guys entered the flat, the tenant told them Makhanya wanted to rent his car. He said this had happened often in the past. He knows him and had seen the news reports. The two of them spent most of Thursday in that apartment, with the tenant trying to convince Makhanya to hand himself over.
“The tenant told us that the suspect was crying constantly and when he tried to convince him to hand himself over, he said that if that was the only option he had left, he would rather kill himself.”
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