Mourners gather to pay tribute to murdered child, Likhona Fose
Scores of community members of Durban Deep, Roodepoort and anti-GBV organisations came out in their numbers to support the grieving family of 14-year-old Likhona Fose, who was mutilated and killed in the area.
Image: Itumeleng English / Independent Newspapers
City of Joburg Mayor, Dada Morero has called on the police to find the people responsible for murdering Likhona Fose, 14.
Fose, a Grade 8 pupil at Ikusasalethu Secondary School in Braamfischerville, was found dead with her body mutilated in an empty field on Sunday, 1 June 2025, sparking reports of possible muthi and hate crime-related murder.
On Thursday, Morero joined scores of mourners, including family, friends, learners from various schools and members of the Johannesburg City Council and MEC for education, Matome Chiloane and other officials who mourned the tragic manner in which the child died.
The memorial service held at the Nkone Maruping Primary School in Braamfischerville attracted throngs of sympathisers who decried the scourge of GBVF and other violent crimes against women and children.
The discovery of Fose's mutilated body coincided with Child Protection Week which started on May 29 and ended on Thursday.
Speaking to the mourners gathered at the Nkone Maruping Primary School, also in Braamfischerville, Morero said those responsible for Fose's death and who deal with body parts of young people will never be rich.
"Body parts will not make you rich. We want to tell our people that to get rich they must wake up in the morning and work hard. It is painful to lose a child like this. As the city, we are here to comfort the family. Your child was killed by criminals, and I hope the police will do everything in their power to find the perpetrator so that justice is done," he said.
On Wednesday, former Chief of the JMPD, David Tembe, who visited the family indicated that the JMPD and other law enforcement agencies would prioritise police visibility in the area.
"This is no longer business as usual. The brutal murder of Likhona Fose has shaken the soul of our city. As the Public Safety leadership, we are declaring war on crime as we will be unleashing every tactical unit on the killers.
"We are coming for those who think our children are targets. Johannesburg will not be a playground for criminals. We owe Likhona justice, we owe our people safety and we will deliver, no compromise, no retreat," he stated.
Likhona's uncle Mthombeni Fose pleaded with police to find his niece's killers.
Fose's funeral is set for her hometown of Nkonkobe in the Eastern Cape on Saturday, June 13.
siyabonga.sithole@inl.co.za