GOGO Solomo Mkhefa (66) said she almost collapsed when she saw the body of her grandson.
“On Monday morning I received the news that Banele had been found dead in the veld. I went there and saw that his lips and his right cheek had been cut off,” she said.
“I was shocked. I don’t know how I got home.”
Banele Bandile (12), the gogo’s disabled grandson, was found lying on top of his brown jacket in an area known as Skomboys near Swaneville in Kagiso, Gauteng.
The gogo said Banele often disappeared from home.
“He used to run like a springbok or an ostrich and it was difficult to catch him,” she said.
“Sometimes he would come back by himself. Sometimes he would go to relatives in Orlando, Soweto.”
A neighbour, Leah Nawane (28), told Daily Sun: “We are all shocked. Banele was very active. He ran fast and played with our children.”
Sangoma Mahlinza Dlamini said she thought somebody was going to make money out of the body parts.
“They will turn the boy into a zombie,” he said.
Warrant Officer Solomon Sibiya from the Mogale City police said the boy was found at about 7am on Monday.
“We are investigating a murder case,” he said.
“We understand the boy was mentally and physically challenged. The family said they assumed he was going to come back home after he went missing on Saturday.”
Sibiya appealed to parents to be very careful with their children and check on their movements