By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The main suspect wanted for the murder of Olorato Mongale has been shot and killed during a shootout with police in the early hours of Friday morning.
This comes just hours after police launched a manhunt and named three dangerous suspects in the case of the 30-year-old Master’s student from the University of Witwatersrand, who went missing on Sunday, 25 May 2025.
Her lifeless body was later found dumped in Lombardy, north of Johannesburg.
Police on Thursday, identified two suspects in Mongale’s murder as Philangenkosi Sibongokuhle Makhanya and Fezile Ngubane.
The third suspect is described by police as Makhanya’s friend Bongani Mthimkhulu. The trio are believed to be a part of a syndicate targeting young women, using a specific modus operandi.
Makhanya was located by police at a residential complex in Amanzimtoti, in Durban in the early hours of Friday morning.
National police spokesperson, Athlenda Mathe said: “When police announced their arrival, he shot at police, police returned fire and he was fatally wounded.”
The shooting comes hours after the police arrested the mother and father of one of the suspects. The mother is said to have helped him evade arrest.
Mathe confirmed that the suspects had been linked to other cases, as several women have come forward with information about them.
KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi said, while officers were at the KwaMashu house questioning the father, the mother alerted her son by phone.
“What is disturbing more than anything is that the mother tipped off the son while the police were in the house.The mother called the son telling him to get away while he was in hiding, that’s why she might have to face the music” he said.
Mkhwanazi added the man who was wanted for the Mongale’s murder confessed to killing her.
Mongale’s killing has sparked a fierce debate about the levels of violence faced by women in the country.
Between January and March this year, 137 women were murdered and more than 1,000 raped, according to South Africa’s most recent crime statistics.