“Police unable
to resolve 80 Murders?”
80
unresolved murders haunt Knysna
KNYSNA NEWS - Question marks still hang over a
great many unsolved Knysna murders since 2009. According to reliable
information there are nearly 80 unsolved murders from the period 2009 to 2013.
It was also during this time that the controversial
Emmerentia Witbooi (31) murder took place.
On July 27, 2012, Witbooi disappeared from her
parents' home in Charlie Levack Street, Hornlee. The search for Witbooi evoked
much emotion among community members who claimed at the time that the police
were not doing enough to find her.
Her naked body was eventually found in Chapel
Street near the Hornlee Clinic on August 5 that year, after family and
community members and Knysna's executive mayor Georlene Wolmarans mobilised
themselves in the search for the missing mother.
It was alleged that only once there had been a
public outcry and when Wolmarans demanded action be taken immediately, did
officers of the Knysna Fire Brigade and Law Enforcement start to help with the
extensive search in and around Hornlee for a woman who would sadly turn out to
be another murder victim.
Nobody was ever convicted for Witbooi's death, even
after people close to her told the Western Cape minister of Police, Dan Plato
that the killer was known to the police. Plato met with community members and
relatives of other unsolved murder victims in Knysna on March 13, 2014.
Wolmarans also attended the meeting in Knysna,
where the traumatised family members expressed their concerns about the
police's investigations into the unsolved murder cases.
