Body of suspected murderer found

Community members of Khubvi and Makonde villages celebrated with joy on Tuesday afternoon, following the gruesome discovery of the decomposed body of Prince Budeli-Vele (45).

He was the suspect in the case where two children, aged 5 and 3, were mercilessly bludgeoned to death with a knobkierie at Makonde about a fortnight ago. Budeli-Vele is said to be the father of the youngest victim, Justice Thangwana. The incident took placde after a quarrel between the children's mother and Budeli-Vele.

Budeli-Vele's body was found hanging from a tree on a mountain near Khubvi. Local police spokesperson Major Mashudu Malelo confirmed that Budeli-Vele's decomposed body was discovered by women who were fetching firewood at about 15:45 on Tuesday afternoon. "We can confirm that Budeli-Vele's body was discovered on the mountain of Khubvi," said Malelo.

He also revealed that Prince Thagwana, Budeli-Vele's close friend and brother in-law positively identified the hanging body as that of Budeli-Vele.

Since the alleged killing of the children, the police have been on a manhunt for Budeli-Vele. Malelo also confirmed that their search went as far as Gauteng, where they reached Budeli-Vele's shack. "When our officers reached his shack, he was not there. We also responded to countless calls from community members who informed us that they were seeing him around Makonde and Khubvi," said Malelo.

Malelo added that they had opened an inquest docket and that a post mortem would be conducted to identify the cause of Budeli-Vele's death. "The discovery of the body does not mean that we have closed the murder docket of the killing of the two children."

The spokesperson of the family, Mr Ephraim Thagwana, said that they were happy that the body was found. Thangwana, brother of the murdered children's mother, said that they always wanted Budeli-Vele to be arrested and face the full might of the law. "Now that his corpse has been found, we hope our sister will no longer live in fear as he promised that he would come back and finish her off."

Meanwhile, the community of Makonde has already raised R16 000 for the benefit of the only surviving child, Given Thagwane (9). According to members of the community they will continue to raise funds for the family.

Date:23 July 2015

By: Ndivhuwo Musetha

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