Buziwe Nocuze
The body of an eight-year-old boy has been found six days after he was kidnapped last Friday in Cape Town.
When Lukhololwam Mkontwana was abducted and his kidnappers demanded a ransom of R100,000, his mother – a junior chef – had no idea how she would pay.
The young boy was playing on the street with his friends when they were approached by several men in a car.
The kidnappers called Lukhololwam over. Taught to beware of approaching strangers, he refused, but they did not take no for an answer.
They grabbed the child, forced him into the vehicle and drove away. They later got in contact with his family to demand the ransom.
On Saturday the kidnappers contacted the mother and told her to transfer what she had raised of the R100,000. That the kidnappers knew how to contact her has led the family to believe that they know the kidnappers.
The mother only had R3,000 in her account and a limit of R1,000 per transfer, so she transferred the maximum amount allowed.
That angered the kidnappers, who told her she must stop fooling around and send them the money.
This was the last time she heard from the kidnappers before receiving the devastating news of her son’s death.
On Monday afternoon the family heard that the body of a child had been dumped in an open field. It was Lukhololwam.
Speaking to Scrolla.Africa, the boy’s devastated grandmother said the kidnappers had killed them when they killed Lukhololwam.
“As you can see, we are all broken, emotionally drained, and hurting. They killed us with Lukhololwam. I do not know what we did to deserve such punishment. He was our only grandchild.”
His father Yongama Kilo, 32, still cannot believe his boy is no more.
“The funny part is he was afraid of getting kidnapped. I remember sending him to the shop, and he told me that he didn’t want to go alone because he was afraid of being abducted. “When I received the news on Friday that he hadn’t come back home, I didn’t think it was serious. It never crossed my mind that it would be kidnapping.”
Captain Frederick van Wyk of SAPS Western Cape confirmed the discovery of a body of a child.
“A murder case was opened for investigation. A post-mortem will be conducted to determine the cause of death.”
He urged anyone with any information about the case to contact Crime Stop at 08600 10111 or via the MySAPS App.
