Police launch search for man who allegedly killed woman and dumped her body
Police have launched a manhunt for a suspect wanted in connection with the murder of a 30-year-old woman.
Police said the suspect calls himself John and drives a VW Polo fitted with a cloned number plate — LT 57 JG GP — that belongs to a Toyota Hilux.
'Olorato Mongale went on a date with her alleged killer who picked her up from her residential complex driving a white VW Polo. During investigations it emerged that the vehicle is fitted with fake registration number plates,' police spokesperson Brig Athlenda Mathe said.
She said the man fetched Mongale at her residential complex in Atholl, Johannesburg, at around 3pm on Sunday.
He drove with the victim to Alexandra, then proceeded to Kew. Between Alexandra and Lombardy West in Johannesburg, the man allegedly murdered Mongale and dumped her body.
'Some of the belongings of the victim which include a phone and a handbag were found abandoned on 9th Road in Kew.'
Her body was found at around 4.50pm in Lombardy West on Monday by the South African Police Service and community members.
Gauteng police are investigating the possibility that 'John' was with another male suspect when they allegedly murdered Mongale.
Mathe said police were investigating a similar case after a 39-year-old woman was found dumped in Catherine Street in Sandown, Sandton on May 8.
'While police investigating teams are on the ground on the Olorato Mongale case and several other gender-based violence and femicide cases, we are urging women to be extra vigilant and look out for this VW Polo.'
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Londt believes that some perpetrators can be held accountable and respond to community-based programmes, while others require imprisonment first. However, she maintains that, with a third group of people, 'nothing can be done with them. They will come out and they'll keep on perpetrating.' For those capable of change, meaningful behavioural shifts are possible, but demand profound self-awareness. Londt's programme, Catts (Child Abuse Therapeutic and Training Services), focuses on helping offenders understand the mechanisms of what they did and how they maintain it, including grooming strategies and how they removed protective measures from victims. The primary goal of any perpetrator intervention is the principle of no more victims. Londt said another aspect of this was to hold perpetrators accountable, restore their dignity and equip them with skills to prevent relapse, rather than simply amplifying their guilt and shame. Both experts strongly advocate for early intervention. Matthews stresses that to shift it is very hard, but it is possible in adulthood. However, it requires far more work than what it is to intervene early. Matthews said that prevention interventions are needed all along the life cycle, including identifying at-risk families during pregnancy, improving parenting practices and providing trauma-informed programming really early on with children who have been exposed to violence. Schools, she said, were a great platform for delivering scalable programmes that teach life skills and social-emotional capacity, transforming schools into places of safety and learning. Londt also stressed that society must acknowledge that, systemically, 'if we don't clean up our society, if we don't stop cutting funding for programmes that are supposed to strengthen families, if we don't look at where our adolescence is going', the individual pathology will not be enough to stem the tide. DM
