Molepolole residents run amok amidst suspected ritual murder

Pini Bothoko - Mpho Mokwape | Tuesday November 28, 2023 06:00

 

Jakoba’s death sparked a vigilante attack after he was found dead and decomposed with body parts allegedly missing last Tuesday at Mosinki Lands on the outskirts of the village. The deceased, a taxi driver, went missing on November 9, 2023, after failing to return home from work which raised the family’s worry as they described it as a strange thing for him to have done.

The following morning, Jakoba’s taxi was found driven by Bakang Masole, 23, who claimed to have brought the car home from Jakoba on Thursday, the day he went missing, something that enraged other taxi drivers as they started demanding answers dragging him to the police station.

Then, the Lerala native was questioned by the police about how he ended up driving the then-missing person’s vehicle. He reportedly showed them [police] the vehicle’s bluebook claiming to have bought the car. Weeks passed by with residents and Jakoba’s family looking for him until his decomposed remains were discovered by children playing in an old abandoned and dilapidated house at Mosinki Lands on Tuesday. On Wednesday Jakoba’s family was forced to bury him seeing the state of his body.

Later that day, enraged community members, who were at the funeral, torched two houses, one belonging to a pastor, a cemetery, and the village kgotla shelter. Arriving in Molepolole on Friday morning, The Monitor crew found the riotous mob's footprints all over the scene as there were burnt tyres and ashes. The angry mob had on the previous night barricaded main roads with burning tyres blocking traffic in and out of the village, as evident by the ashes of burnt tyres in the village.

Upon arrival at the village’s main kgotla, the team found Kgosi Kgari Sechele III and other village elders sitting near the burnt shelter which was left in ashes. Villagers took turns as they kept on coming and going after witnessing what happened the previous night but could not get any answers as the village leadership failed to address them. Reached for an interview, village elder, Town Kuahanda, 63, said they are troubled by missing person reports in which most of the time the victims are found dead, allegedly killed for ritual purposes. Kuahanda said residents ended up rioting because they felt the police and village leadership failed to give the matter the attention it deserved, especially following the discovery of Jakoba’s remains with his body parts allegedly missing.

“I totally understand their reactions because cases of missing persons continue to escalate and in most cases, the victims are either found dead or remain unresolved,” he said. For his part, Ntsimane Mogotsi said the matter was not given the attention it deserved, something that left villagers irate.

He called for such cases to be addressed as soon as possible by the police and the village leadership to avoid unrest in the village. Addressing the media on Friday here, Botswana Police Service's Deputy Public Relations Officer, Senior Superintendent Near Bagali confirmed the investigation into the murder of Jakoba who was reported missing on November 10. “We were later [to receive a] report that his remains were found in an abounded house at Mosinki Lands and opened a murder case. We have an experienced team of detectives currently investigating the matter who then suspected foul play which was confirmed by a pathology report. 'It is true that some of his body parts weren't found. That resulted in us launching a murder probe, arrested three suspects who were interrogated until we were left with one suspect and released the other two. Our main suspect, Bakang Masole was this morning arraigned before Molepolole Magistrate’s Court to face a murder charge,” he said.

Contrary to reports that Jakoba’s body parts were retrieved at Bakang’s residence, Bagali dismissed the reports as false and misleading. “There are no body parts that were seized as alleged on social media platforms. What some members of the public did is against the law and we have since arrested eight people linked to the riots who are currently in custody for investigations,” he said. Bagali said investigations into the matter are ongoing as they want to arrest all of the people who took part in the riots.