BREAKING | Missing women's bodies found burnt, dismembered, and dumped in dam

Zoleka Gantana, 57, and Kholosa Mpunga, 27, were shot, their bodies dismembered and burnt before the parts were dumped into a dam.

Three suspects have been arrested.

Zoleka's daughter, Nobuntu Gantana, confirmed to the Dispatch on Saturday morning that the bodies were found near Peddie.

“My mother passed away. Their bodies were burnt beyond recognition,” said Nobuntu.

Zoleka's missing Isuzu bakkie was also found with false numbers plates.

The two women had lived together at Zoleka's home in Ncerha Village 7, near Kidds Beach. Kholosa worked as a shopkeeper at Zoleka's KwaMasithathi General Dealer store.

Police provincial spokesperson Brigadier Tembinkosi Kinana said the suspects, aged between 44 and 50, were arrested near Peddie after an intensive search for the missing women.

“Their arrests were preceded by the recovery of the stolen vehicle belonging to Gantana, which was found stuck in the mud without any person inside or nearby.

“Investigators received information that led them to a farm where the suspects were subsequently arrested. During the investigation, the detectives discovered that both women had been shot dead,” Kinana.

“It is alleged that their bodies were chopped, burnt, and subsequently dumped into a dam nearby the farm at Gcinisa village.”

Brigadier Kinana said police still had to establish whether the body parts found in the dam were those of the missing two women.

Kinana said: “The human remains have been taken to a nearby mortuary and will be sent to the forensic laboratory.”

The arrested suspects are expected at the East London magistrate court on Monday July on charges of murder, kidnapping, possession of stolen property, and business robbery.

Dispatch reported Zoleka, who was also a Methodist Church lay minister, was last heard from on July 8, Saturday afternoon, when she left her Tsholomnqa homestead for her house in Ncerha.

On Sunday morning, Zoleka's neighbours contacted the family suspecting that something was amiss at Gantana's house.

Her daughter told the Dispatch on Monday that they rushed to her home and found the gate open, the shop looted of items such as cigarettes, cold drinks and meat, and her mother’s bakkie.

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