At least 17 people, including 15 women, have been brutally murdered in two separate incidents in Lusikisiki, Eastern Cape on Friday night.
Minister of Police, Senzo Mchunu, together with the Deputy Minister of Police, Cassel Mathale and national commissioner of SA Police Service (SAPS), General Fannie Masemola, are set to address media to shed more light on the incidents.
The SAPS top brass will also use the opportunity to update media on the nationwide crime combating efforts.
“The Minister will also brief the media on the killing of 17 people in Lusikisiki and the manhunt that has been launched to apprehend those behind these heinous killings,” said SAPS national spokesperson, Brigadier Athlenda Mathe.
In one house, 13 people were brutally killed. The 13 people include 12 women and a man.
At another homestead, four people were also killed.
“The 18th victim is in a critical condition in hospital. In total, 15 women and two men were killed,” said Mathe.
Mchunu said “maximum resources” have been mobilised to apprehend those that are behind the attacks.
Last month, IOL reported that a mother and her three children were found dead in a rondavel at the Tholeni Administrative Area in Butterworth, in an apparent murder-suicide incident.
At the time, police spokesperson Colonel Priscilla Naidu said it was alleged that a woman visited the deceased’s rondavel on a Sunday morning when she made the shocking discovery.
"Bongeka Buso, 38, was found hanging from a rope in the rondavel while two other children, Orabile Buso, eight years old, and Oratile Buso, five years old, were found dead on the bed.
"Anathi Buso, about 14 years old, was found lying on the floor next to the bed with a knife in her neck. Bongeka Buso was the mother of all three children,” she said.
Naidu said it was suspected that the two younger children had been poisoned.
IOL