The general store owner, Zuleika Jantana, was kidnapped along with her employee when the store was robbed.
- Three people have been arrested in connection with the killings of an Eastern Cape shop owner and her assistant.
- The dismembered bodies of Zoleka Gantana and Kholosa Mpunga, burned beyond recognition, were discovered on Friday.
- The arrests were preceded by the discovery of Baki Jantana stuck in the mud in the village of Jsenisa.
Three people have been arrested in connection with the killings of a shopkeeper in the Eastern Cape and her assistant.
The general store owner, Zuleka Jantana, 57, and her employee, Kholosa Mbunga, 27, were kidnapped during the shop robbery in Nsirha last Saturday evening.
Gantana’s daughter, Nobuntu, told News24 that their dismembered bodies were discovered, which were burnt beyond recognition.
They were found on Friday morning. The three suspects, aged between 44 and 50, were arrested in Bede on Saturday.
According to police spokesman Brigadier General Thimpinkosi Kanana, their arrest was preceded by the recovery of the stolen Gantana vehicle, which was found stuck in mud, stripped and abandoned in Gsenisa village, where the bodies were later found.
The detectives followed up on the clues that led them to the farm where the three were arrested.
The groceries stolen from Jantana’s store were also found at the house of one of the suspects.
Read | The Eastern Cape shop owner and his assistant are found dead and burned beyond recognition
“During the investigation, the investigators discovered that the two women were killed by a firearm,” Kinana said.
Their bodies were allegedly cut up, burned and later dumped into a dam near the farm, also in Gsenisa village.
The recovered remains will be sent for forensic examination to ensure they were indeed those of the two missing women.
The three arrested are expected to appear before the East London Magistrates Court on Monday on charges of murder, kidnapping, possession of stolen property and business theft.