ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba is offering a R50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the culprits who killed two boys in Soweto last week.

Nqobizitha Zulu, 5, and Tshiamo Rabanye, 6, were mutilated and their bodies found 1.4km apart in Rockville and White City, respectively, by stunned residents after a nearly 24-hour search.

Police said the two boys were reported missing at Moroka police station.

Mashaba said the party has written to Gauteng police commissioner Elias Mawela to offer a R50,000 reward to anyone who provides information that leads to the arrest of the culprits.

He said the abduction and murder of the two boys “highlights how our communities are left defenceless against rising crime”.

“I hope that this R50,000 reward will help bring justice to the Zulu and Rabanye families.,” he said. 

“As someone who has long held close relationships with the community of White City in Soweto and is a close family friend of the spokesperson of the boys’ families, I visited the families on Sunday afternoon alongside Gauteng provincial chairperson Funzi Ngobeni, and the former City of Johannesburg chief of police David Tembe.”

Mashaba said both families welcomed the offer of a reward to find the perpetrators and asked that Tembe be the liaison between the police and the families during the investigation.

“As a party committed to the rule of law, ActionSA looks forward to commissioner Mawela accepting our offer to help arrest the culprits of the Zulu and Rabanye murders.

“We will not rest until children can play in the streets of our communities without fear for their safety, and the rule of law is restored to all spheres of our society,” he said. 

Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi said the province was trying to establish why the two boys were murdered.

Lesufi, education MEC Matome Chiloane and community safety MEC Faith Mazibuko visited the grieving families on Thursday. 

“What has happened in this community is something that must not be tolerated. We are trying to establish the reasons behind this incident and we have no choice but to unleash state resources that we have at our disposal to ensure that the police do everything in their powers to understand why these people are behaving like this,” Lesufi said.

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