BULTFONTEIN – A dark cloud has once again befallen the Free State following the horrific rape and murder of seven-year-old Ntombazana Mnyamane. The young child was tragically killed just a stone’s throw away from her home in Bultfontein, within the Tswelopele Local Municipality.
According to police reports, the innocent child was brutally assaulted and strangled to death less than twenty metres from where her unsuspecting family was gathered. The suspect, a relative whom the family knew and trusted, had allegedly been in their midst only a short while before committing the barbaric act.
Authorities confirmed that the alleged perpetrator was out on parole after serving part of a prison sentence for the rape of a 12-year-old child several years ago. Following the senseless crime, the suspect fled to a farming community in Theunissen. He was later traced and apprehended by police following an intensive, intelligence-led manhunt.
A visibly shocked and pained Free State Premier, MaQueen Letsoha-Mathae, visited the bereaved family to convey her deepest condolences and offer support.
“We are here as government to extend our deepest condolences and sympathies to the family and friends following the tragic loss of your little daughter, who had her whole future ahead of her. This barbaric act is particularly painful because it was allegedly committed by someone you knew and trusted, someone you had spent time with, and someone your daughter felt safe around.
“This tragedy comes at a time when government has intensified its efforts to raise awareness and mobilise society against sexual predators and perpetrators of Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF). It therefore raises pertinent questions about what has infiltrated our society and what more needs to be done to protect our children and communities.”
Letsoha-Mathae was accompanied by a high-level delegation, including the MEC for Community Safety, Roads and Transport, Jabu Mbalula; the Chief Whip of the Free State Legislature, Honourable Oupa Khoabane; Member of the Free State Legislature, Zama Sigwebela; and the Mayor of the Tswelopele Local Municipality.
The leadership condemned the heinous act in the strongest terms, emphasizing that no human being, especially a vulnerable child, should ever have to endure such brutality.
