Alex Matlala

Alex Matlala

The Limpopo man who went berserk on Tuesday and shot dead his wife and son has confessed to the murders.

Elias Malatji, 41, of Magemeni village in Mandagshoek, Sekhukhune, confessed to the killings in the Praktiseer magistrate's court yesterday.

Malatji had allegedly accused his wife, Gertrude Maimela, 29, of infidelity and denied fathering her six-year-old boy Johannes Malatji. The incident followed on an argument in a pub in Maandagshoek at the weekend, during which a friend of Malatji's claimed to have had sex with his wife and fathered a son with her.

"Malatji was with his wife at the time and ordered her not to set foot in his house again," a family source said.

The wife went to her parent's home in Molongoane village but Malatji allegedly followed her there and shot her and her son at close range.

Police spokesman Constable Nthabiseng Lebaka said Malatji turned himself in to the police after the incident .

In an unrelated incident a 55-year-old Limpopo businessman and taxi owner, Philemon Phasha, was granted R4000 bail after he allegedly shot dead his son Johannes Phasha.

Lebaka said Phasha had accused his son of drinking when he was supposed to be making money.

"He went to the local shebeen and found his son drinking," Lebaka said. "An argument ensued and Phasha drew a 9mm pistol and shot his son in the head. He turned himself in to the police after the incident."

Meanwhile, a Tzaneen taxi operator, Emanuel Chango Raolane, who was killed in his Moleketla home on Monday, will be buried on Sunday.