Ntwaagae Seleka

Ntwaagae Seleka

"When we found his naked body in the stream, a silver knife was still stuck in his spine," Vaal Rand police said after making the gruesome discovery of murdered paraplegic Samuel Papi Molamu's body in Sharpeville yesterday.

The 31-year-old wheelchair-bound Molamu was apparently killed for his monthly R940 disability grant, which he had gone to collect from a payout point in the township.

"We suspect he was stripped of his clothes and killed elsewhere," said Inspector Trudie Wilken.

"They have killed an innocent man. How can they kill him for his money?" asked his distraught cousin Manini Molamu.

Manini, 19, said the family last saw him alive on Tuesday morning when he went to collect his social grant.

"He called me later in the evening and said he was with his friends at a shebeen and promised to return home," she said.

Manini said that at about 7am yesterday she became worried when she heard people in the neighbourhood talking about a wheelchair-bound man who had been found murdered in the area.

"I hurried there and was shocked when I saw my cousin's body next to his wheelchair. He was naked, and the robbers had taken all his clothes, cellphone and money," said Manini.

She did not mention whether the knife was still sticking out of his back when she saw him .

Molamu was the sole breadwinner and took care of his three siblings - Matthew, 23, Lehlohonolo, 19, and Iketle, 15 - with his disability grant.

"They have killed my pillar of strength. My brother was paying for my school fees and put food on the table," said Lehlohonolo, sobbing.

Wilken said Molamu was stabbed several times. She said no arrests had been made and a case of murder and robbery was being investigated.

She appealed to the community to come forward with information leading to the arrest of the killers.