Discovery of 9-year-old's body fuels Cape Town's horrific child murder rate

Days after a Cape Town man was jailed for 50 years for murdering a teenage girl‚ the discovery of a 9-year-old’s body sparked another murder hunt in a city where children are killed at the rate of more than one a week.

Previledge Mabvongwe disappeared on Monday after a taxi dropped her metres from her front door in Kraaifontein‚ north of Cape Town‚ after school.

Western Cape police spokesperson Sergeant Noloyiso Rwexana said her body was found on Thursday at a dumping site next to Sam Jokozela Avenue in Bloekombos‚ 80m from where she is believed to have been abducted.

She was still wearing her Scottsville Primary School uniform.

Rwexana said crime scene experts and members of the Kraaifontein police's Family Violence‚ Child Protection and Sexual Offences unit were combing the area for clues.

“Police detectives appeal to anyone with information that can lead to the arrest of the perpetrator to come forward to assist with the investigation. The investigating officer‚ Captain Loganathan Chetty‚ can be contacted on 082-522-1039‚” said Rwexana.

Last week‚ Andrew Plaatjies was convicted of murdering and attempting to rape Lavender Hill neighbour Rene Roman‚ 13‚ in March last year.

He pleaded guilty to murdering her by hitting her repeatedly over the head after he kidnapped her as she was walking to fetch her younger sister from the creche.

Judge Robert Hennie said he hoped the lengthy jail time would prevent these kinds of incidents from happening.

“The question is‚ how do we stop people like you who continue to brutally murder children like this?” he said.

“It’s always someone known to the victim. That’s what makes it so difficult to curb this crime because we always tell our kids to stay away from strangers but then it’s the uncle‚ or the neighbour‚ or a family friend. The victims usually know the perpetrators.”

Sixity-six children were murdered in Cape Town in 2017.