VUYO MKIZE
LUNGILE Madlala’s dead body lay bruised, battered and stabbed. He and a friend had been brutally murdered during a mob attack.
Madlala and Lodwe Xoza, both 24, had found themselves on the receiving end of an angry mob after they were accused of stealing a man’s car wheels in Orlando East last Wednesday.
Now Madlala’s family are left with one gnawing question – why didn’t the mob just take the young men to the police station and have them arrested if they had done something wrong?
Warrant Officer Bongani Mhlongo, from the Orlando police station, said: “A man came to the station on Wednesday morning to report that his car tyres had been stolen.
“He said he didn’t want to open a case as he already knew the people who stole them, and just wanted the tyres back.
“So the police went to the men (Madlala and Xoza) and asked them if they knew anything about the stolen tyres. They said they knew nothing. The man still did not want to open the case. Later the following day, we heard that two men had been killed and left in a field between Diepkloof and Orlando East.”
After questioning Orlando East residents, the police discovered that the man who had gone to the police station to report his stolen tyres was involved in murdering Madlala and Xoza.
Six men were initially arrested for the deaths, but charges against three were later withdrawn.
Yesterday, Mduduzi Mgabhi, Tidimalo Tekisho and Melusi Jiyane appeared in the Protea Magistrate’s Court charged with the murder of the two men.
“They (the mob) should have just taken the two and locked them up in the police station, or brought them back here and we could have disciplined them,” said Madlala’s mother Nobelungu.
“I didn’t know of his life outside the house. Here he was a good child. He used to listen to me when I spoke to him. My mind is lost… I can’t even think properly.
“People keep asking me questions I can’t answer. This was the first I have ever heard of him being accused of a crime.”
Madlala’s funeral will be held on Friday.
Meanwhile, another mother from Orlando East, who asked not to be named, is battling with dealing with her teenage son, who is embroiled in a life of petty crime to finance his drug addiction.
She said: “These boys steal from people to buy this drug called nyaope. My son was hit by a group of people last week because they accused him of stealing from them.
“As a family, we have tried to help him. He has been to rehab twice, and came out the same. When he was arrested, they (police) said he was too young for prison, but I think that is what these boys need so that they can be taught discipline.”