The 42-year-old man had been on the run since the shooting in Mahwelereng on September 9.

Sarah Sambo, 45, and her daughter, Sophy, 30, were killed in front of their mother and grandmother, Paulina Sambo, 61, who said the family was relieved at the arrest on Saturday.

"I feel relieved now that this killer has been arrested and hope the law takes its course," Sambo said yesterday.

According to Mahwelereng police spokesman Captain Sebotsaro Motadi, the man was found in a car along the N11 road in GaMagongoa village outside Mokopane on Saturday evening.

He said police had received a tip-off that the man was hiding in the village. Motadi said police had also recovered a firearm and one round of ammunition in the man's possession.

"We are going to send the firearm for ballistic tests to determine if it was the one used in the killings," Motadi said.

He said the man would appear in the Mokerong Magistrate's Court today on two counts of murder.

The other charges of evading arrest, threatening other members of his victims' family, including violation of a protection order obtained against him, would be added later, he said.

The man had violated a protection order obtained by his wife when he killed her and his mother-in-law.

- frankm@sowetan.co.za