Ritual murder panic

LERATO MALEKE
Correspondent | Monday August 26, 2013 00:00

 

Kgatleng district police boss, Senior Superintendent Seabe Maboka and Director of Kgatleng Region in the Ministry of Education and Skills Development, Sir Wonder Masebola told The Monitor on Friday that their investigations have turned up nothing following reports about serial killers.Maboka said the police had to intervene recently when a mob claiming to be parents of pupils at a primary school approached the head teacher, claiming that their children fear for their lives.He said they were able to calm the parents. 'These are just rumours which are speedily spreading in the village,' he explained. He said they have deployed officers in the village, even those in plain clothes but they have never caught anyone. Maboka said his officers are worried and disturbed by the rumours in Mochudi. 'There is no one who has been murdered to prove these (reports) and also there is no one who can come forward to prove these allegations,' he said.

He said investigations in many cases of kidnapping reported to the police in Mochudi end up nowhere because the people who come to report fail to produce enough evidence. Moreover, people who claim to have been kidnapped even fail to identify the culprits. 'We have encouraged them to come forward but whatever they give us is not solid or something that can be followed up,' he stated.Masebola, the regional director from the told The Monitor that there is nothing concrete except rumours about serial killers in Mochudi. He said they are cooperating with the police and that those who have information should come forward.

'We have an open door policy and everyone who informs us will be protected because as a researcher and educationist, I believe in facts,' he explained. Masebola said he conducted investigations in the early hours of Friday in Mochudi and found nothing amiss nor panic by pupils after reports that learning had been affected by the ritual killer reports.'I even saw Ithuteng pupils walking to school one by one, in pairs, and imagine how early it was, but nothing happened to them,' he added. He said he has consulted school heads in Kgatleng who assured him everything is fine. 'Today (Friday) school heads attended a workshop at the Education Centre and no one complained about lurking ritual killers,' he said.

Meanwhile, parents in Mochudi told The Monitor of Friday that their children no longer attend classes because of ritual killers commonly known as 'Boraboko'. It is reported that scared parents marched to Isang Primary School on Thursday last week following reports that ritual killers had entered a Standard Four classroom at the school to lure pupils away.The pupils told The Monitor that four men entered their classroom when their teacher was out attending a meeting and offered to transport them to and from their homes.This caused alarm because Mochudi is notorious for ritual killings, with children as the preferred victims.

Parents told The Monitor that they fear for the safety of the children after the reports. 'They (skull hunters) even follow our children to class and no action is being taken by the police and our chiefs,' said a parent, who gave her name as Kedibone.Another parent, Mojadife Thebe of Boseja said he has started escorting his Standard Four child to Isang Primary School. 'My child informed me that when they were in class, four men came in and offered to transport pupils every morning and after school,' he explained.It is alleged that when the intruders showed up, the class teacher was in a meeting. 'Hearing this story from my child, then I started escorting him,' said the old man. Pupils told The Monitor that recently strange men have been stalking them. They claim the men drive a white or cream Land Rover and wear shades.