Africa-Press – South-Africa. Sex workers along the R103, near Heidelberg, claim the spot where Bongiwe Skosana’s body was found this week was a dumping ground for murderers.
Skosana was kidnapped in broad daylight from her home, last Saturday, 17 June.
Her body was found on Wednesday, 21 June, in a maize field. She had a bullet wound to the chest and her hands had been tied behind her back.
According to local sex workers who spoke to News24, four bodies had already been found since the beginning of the year in the very same spot.
A sex worker, who identified herself as Zoleka, claimed they saw police gathering at the maize field, behind a reservoir along the R103 Road, and they decided to check what was happening.
“I regularly use the spot where Skosana’s body and that of other victims were found. On 21 June, we stood along the road when we saw the police driving towards the reservoir, and civilians following them, and we hitched a ride to see what was happening.”
She said they were curious as the spot was popular with sex workers because it was well-hidden and secluded.
She continued:
Zoleka said that next to Skosana’s body, police also found the severely decomposed remains of a man.
She said a wooden cross was placed nearby, where someone had marked the spot to remember someone who had died.
Zoleka said that earlier this year, while entertaining a client, she found a woman’s body.
“We were busy with our thing. As we were about to leave, we saw a woman’s body. A cellphone was on top of the body. I quickly phoned the police.
“The body was later identified as that of a woman who resided in Tsakane. The police said she was killed and dumped there. Her killers didn’t take anything from her. Her family later placed that wooden cross as a remembrance,” said Zoleka.
Last year, Zoleka and her colleagues found a burning BMW sedan.
“I went closer and saw a person burning inside. I phoned the police. The police responded; to date, we don’t know whose body that was.
“This place is dangerous. It is used as a dumping spot by murderers,” she said.
She added:
“We have been working on this road for many years. It was a quiet spot frequented by our clients.”
Zoleka said she, too, fell victim to crime at the same spot when she was robbed and stabbed by a client.
“Recently, a hijacking and robbery victim was rescued by the police from the same spot. The man had been hijacked from Palm Springs and dumped there. His hands were tied in the front with cable ties,” said Zoleka.
The women claimed they feared working in the area, but were forced to, by circumstances beyond their control.
“Nobody wants to die. We are here because men love driving along this road. We don’t struggle to find clients here. Our concern is our safety. We plead with the police to find those who kill people here,” Zoleka said.
A local police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, conceded that the R103 was synonymous with crime.
“Hijackers and robbers dump their victims there. The road is quiet and frequented by sex workers and their clients. We are not shocked that Skosana’s body was dumped there. Criminals operating in the area are aware that it is difficult for a victim of crime to be found there,” he said.
According to Skosana’s family, her body had a bullet wound to the chest, bruises to the face, and a part of her left ear was missing.
Skosana was dressed in white pyjamas and a blue gown, the same clothes she was last seen wearing around midday on 17 June, when she was taken from her Heidelberg home by two armed men.
A week before the abduction, three armed men stormed into her stepbrother’s room, looking for her.
She was not at home at the time and the men tied up her stepbrother, Mohau Dladla, ransacked his room, and took his cellphone, clothes and shoes.
They warned him that they were coming back for Skosana.
On 17 June, when Skosana was abducted, one of the men boasted that he was among the three men who was there a week earlier, looking for her.
The kidnappers took Skosana’s phone, as well as the phones of her two nieces.
They then shoved Skosana into her niece’s car and drove off.
The vehicle was later found abandoned at a local cemetery.
Gauteng police spokesperson, Colonel Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi, said they were still investigating.
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