Sakhile Mokoena

Sakhile Mokoena

A man, believed to be a member of the ultra right-wing Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweeging (AWB), has been accused of killing a woman and dumping her body in a river in Mpumalanga.

Vera Nkosi, 33, of Barberton, was found dead in the Mgwenyane River on January 9 after she was last seen in the company of the suspect the previous night.

The suspect was arrested with two other men, but the three were released because, police claimed, they could not be directly linked to Nkosi's murder.

The mutilation was discovered on Friday by family members who went to the mortuary to prepare the body for burial.

They found that an inner part of her genitals, the inside of a breast and part of an ear were missing.

Her funeral had to be postponed on Saturday after shocked family members wanted to know from the police what had happened to their daughter' body.

Police said the genitals were removed by a pathologist.

"The other parts we think were eaten by fish and crabs in the river," said Barberton police spokesman Constable Jabu Ndubane.

Nkosi will be buried this Saturday because her body cannot be kept for a longer period at the mortuary.