Condom found next to boy’s half-naked body

Johannesburg -

A 10-year-old boy was found half-naked and burnt while a used condom lay next to his body in the Ramaphosa informal settlement, Ekurhuleni, on Monday.

Police say the boy, Siphamandla Madikane, had been missing since Sunday evening.

“The last time he was seen (alive) he was playing with a friend,” said police spokesman Captain Tsekiso Mofokeng. He said the boy went missing at about 7pm.

Mofokeng confirmed that a sock had been stuffed into Siphamandla’s mouth. His half-naked, burnt body was discovered on Monday with a used condom next to him.

However, a missing persons case was only opened by the parents the following morning.

“I can’t be sure why it was only opened the following morning, it’s the parents’ responsibility to look after their children,” Mofokeng said.

“We need to know more about why they didn’t report it and why it took so long; you might find there was a granny nearby that the child often stays at,” said Germaine Vogel from Women and Men Against Child Abuse. “But police must investigate whether this is a case of child neglect,” she added.

Police and community members launched a search to find Siphamandla on Monday but his body was found by a man who was not part of the search later that day. The man was walking through a veld when he stumbled upon the corpse.

“Around 3pm, a man noticed the body of a boy and he alerted the police,” Mofokeng said.

Anyone with information about the crime can send a detailed anonymous tip-off to Crime Line at 32211 or call 08600 10111.

Siphamandla’s death follows a recent spate of child murders across the province. Three weeks ago, the bodies of 2-year-old Yonelisa Mali and 3-year-old Zandile Mali, who are cousins, were found in a communal toilet in Diepsloot, Extension 1, in the early hours of the morning.

The bodies were found less than 100m from the home of five-year-old Anelisa Mkhondo, who was snatched in September. Her body was found a few days later under a pile of rubbish.

While the search was under way for the Mali girls’ suspected killer – who has since appeared in court – a mother was arrested for the murder of her children aged 1 and 3.

The children and the mother, who was taken to hospital, were found in an open veld in Katlehong on the West Rand. She claimed her husband had driven them there from Mpumalanga and left them with juice to drink, which she said was poisoned.

However, police did not believe her version of events and after an investigation arrested her for the murder of her children.

During the funeral of the Mali cousins a week after their bodies were found, the body of a 2-week-old baby boy was found dumped in a stream in Diepsloot and police also suspected he had been murdered.

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The Star

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