Daily Dispatch

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BELTING FIGHT
E Cape fighters square off for vacant title Page 26
Friday, June 1, 2012

CHILD SHAME
The disgrace of our missing children Page 12
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Mystery murder confession

Letter under floor tells of killing
By KATHRYN KIMBERLEY and MICHAEL KIMBERLEY

ITH only a bundle of yellowing photographs to remind them of their mother who disappeared under mysterious circumstances 13 years ago, her three Eastern Cape children are battling to come to terms with the recent news that she had been kidnapped and brutally murdered. Tandiwe Betty Ketani was a loving person. She was not a threat. So why did a gang go to such extreme lengths to end her life? Her puzzling disappearance came to a head last week, after a man discovered a bundle of letters under the floorboards of his Kenilworth, Gauteng, home, allegedly written by one her murderers confessing to the crime. If you are reading this letter then I am dead. Please do everything you can to avenge me was what grabbed the house owners attention. The author of the letters had assumed they would only be discovered once he was dead and in them allegedly confessed to his role in Tandiwes murder. However, the owner of the house had been renovating the property and had ripped up the old carpets, discovering the letters in the process. The author had apparently rented a room from him at the time of Tandiwes disappearance. Tandiwe, 37, had moved to Johannesburg from Queenstown in order to support her three children whom she left in the care of her sister. She found a job working as a chef in a popular fast food restaurant and would send money home on a regular basis. All of a sudden, she stopped. Her family never heard from her again. This week, her sister-in-law detailed how the family had gone to Johannesburg at the time to search for their beloved Tandiwe. We looked in every hospital, mortuary and police station as far as Pretoria, but found nothing, Lungiswa Ketani said. A missing person case was registered with police. At least now we know she did not abandon us, the deceased womans eldest son, Thulani Ketani, added. The letters, as reported by Eyewitness News, further detailed how the woman was first shot in the head, then later kidnapped from a hospital in Vereeniging in May 1999. Her assailants had left her for dead by the side of the road in Walkerville, but a motorist reportedly picked her up and took her to hospital. The letters allege the group of men realised the hit had been botched and

forged medical documents to kidnap her from the hospital. Dressed in white coats, they brazenly removed her in a wheelchair as they pretended to transfer her to another facility. She died later and the men apparently buried her body under a concrete slab on the Kenilworth property. According to the letters, her body was later exhumed and taken to a dumpsite in Booysens, where it was reportedly burned. According to Eyewitness News, the letters, addressed to an individual who cannot be identified, told police where to find evidence such as video footage, photographs and recorded phone conversations relating to the abduction spree. This was all stored in a safe. Five men, including the author of the letter, have been arrested. They will take part in an identity parade relating to two other abductions and then make a formal bail application in the Johannesburg Magistrates Court today. Among the accused are two police officers. Speaking to the Daily Dispatch from their modest Queenstown home on Wednesday, Thulani and his sisters Bulelwa and Lusanda, 14, said they were shocked on hearing the news of their mothers murder. They are concerned their mothers body would never be returned to them. They want to bury her and make peace with what has happened. But without a body, they cannot say goodbye. Her mother and grandmother died never knowing what happened to her, Lungiswa said. Thulani, who was in Grade 11 when his mom disappeared, said for the first time in his life he had failed. He flunked out of matric and still battles to find work. His physical ailments, which he narrows down to stress, has landed him in hospital on numerous occasions. The youngest daughter, Lusanda, was barely a year old when her mother went missing. She cannot remember her mother and relies on stories that her family tell her. It is not nice not to have a mother, she mutters. The siblings cling to each other for support as they tell of their hardships over the past 13 years. The men that did this to her must be arrested and rot in jail, Bulelwa adds. They [perpetrators] made my life a misery. I want them to pay for what they have done. Justice must take its course. Police have not yet established a motive despite two of the accused having already confessing to the crime.

FAMILY IN SHOCK: From left, Thulani Ketani and his sisters Bulelwa and Lusanda said they were taken aback on hearing the news of their mothers murder after she had gone missing 13 years ago. They spoke to the Dispatch from their Queenstown home this week. INSET: Tandiwe Betty Ketani Picture: SINO MAJANGAZA

Hawkers take to main street

By LULAMILE FENI Mthatha Bureau Chief

French bamboozles Hewitt

SOMETHING gets a little lost in translation at Pariss Roland Garros tennis courts for Australias former world number one Lleyton Hewitt. Asked what was different about the French Open compared with the other Slams, wildcard Hewitt beaten in four sets by Slovenian Blaz Kavcic grinned and said: The

ODD SPOT
scores are in French I dont understand. Ive got to look up at the scoreboard to know what it is! This week he was rarely inclined to look up, a battling third set rally aside, as he bowed out 6-7 (2/7), 3-6, 7-6 (7/4), 3-6. Sapa-AFP

THE normally quiet town of Lusikisiki yesterday became a battlefield as hawkers barricaded the towns main street with concrete slabs and burning tyres. The unrest entered its second day following a hawkers march on Wednesday in which hawkers claimed two people were killed. Police said they knew of no deaths. Lusikisiki Hawkers Association chairwoman Nothobile Diyata and DA councillor Ndumiso Mtshulwana claim the two died after Ingquza Municipality security officers shot at the protesting hawkers who were stoning the municipal building. Six people were injured, they added. Mtshulwana said the municipality should take the hawkers grievances seriously. The mayor and his mayoral

committee are not transparent. They [marchers] were expecting an answer to their grievances, not to be shot at. Now two people have died, said Mtshulwana. Police spokesman Captain Mduduzi Godlwana yesterday dismissed the reports as untrue. Nobody died. Only two people, not six, were injured and are still at St Elizabeth Hospital [in Lusikisiki], Godlwana said yesterday morning. The mayhem came after hawkers were given what they described as substandard stalls from R5-million donated by Italy to build shelters. The stalls were handed over by the Ingquza Hill Municipality last month. Godlwana said the hawkers were not happy with the response of the Ingquza Hill mayor Pat Mdingi. They started to be unruly and throwing stones in the direction of the mayor and his

entourage, he said. He said police tried to control the crowd unsuccessfully. It is alleged gunshots were heard from the direction of the municipal building, he said. Godlwana said two counts of attempted murder had been opened against the municipal officers. No arrests had yet been made. Hawkers committee member Khanyisa Mendela said they first gave the mayor a petition last month demanding to know what was done with the R5million received from Italy. We dont have shelters, toilets, water and these stalls are very small. We want to know what happened to the R5-million, asked Mendela. Mendela said they gave Mdingi 30 days to respond to their petition. Its been more than 30 days now and thats why we decided to protest, she said. lulamilef@dispatch.co.za