Mongale family finds partial relief as main suspect dies in shootout

[File photo] The late Olorato Mongale

3 minutes

The family of Olorato Mongale, the 30-year-old woman whose body was found near Alexandra last week, says they feel a sense of relief after the main suspect in her murder was killed in a police shootout.

Philangenkosi Makhanya, the prime suspect, died in a confrontation with officers in Amanzimtoti, south of Durban, on Friday morning.

Two additional suspects have since been detained in connection with Mongale’s killing.

While the young woman has yet to be laid to rest, her family says they take some comfort knowing that justice is being served.

Mongale will be buried in Bloemfontein this weekend.

Family Spokesperson Chriselda Kananda says, “It is quite a relief for the family that justice for Olorato, before we even lay her body to rest, would have been served. The unfortunate reality is that each time they create an environment where they’re not able to answer the questions that the nation has, why choose this particular way of ending young life? And why target young women? Because it seems like it’s a syndicate, and oftentimes when there’s a syndicate, there is a source.”

VIDEO | Friends and family remember Olorato Mongale at a memorial service:

Bloodstains

KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi says that the police forensic investigators have found bloodstains in the car that was driven by Makhanya last weekend.

Briefing the media, Mkhwanazi says that the vehicle found with bloodstains belongs to Makhanya’s father.

His parents have been released after being questioned by the police.

“This boy was using that vehicle. It’s a vehicle that he used to drive to Johannesburg, where the incident occurred, and he brought the vehicle back, and he took the vehicle to the panel beater because it had some damage on it. That’s where we recovered the vehicle, and we had some blood stains on the back seat of the vehicle. The forensic people are processing it. We hope that the blood stain will be linked with the victim.”

He says Makhanya had more pending kidnapping cases.

“We know that he is also having a kidnapping case here at KwaMashu that he was supposed to appear in court for. We know of a court case in Brakpan where he was supposed to appear on Monday on a kidnapping case as well.”

Police say they found at least 28 ID cards and 20 cell phones in his possession. He has been carrying around a safe, “but we don’t know what his purpose is,” explains Mkhwanazi, adding that, “So we are still trying to trace these IDs (to find out) who they belong to and who are these people that he is having their IDs here, and the cellphones, we are still going to download all of them and try to link them up. We would like to believe that there are a lot of victims who are going to be involved with this guy.”