ECHO CAVES FARM MURDERS SUSPECT STAYS INSIDE TILL FURTHER NOTICE

BY MONTSHO MATLALA

PRAKTISEER: Over two months after double murder suspect in Ohristad, Christopher Bongani Mgiba was nabbed by police on June 15, he is still behind bars and would only know next week if he could be released on bail.
Early this week, on Monday, Mgiba, looking frail appeared again in the Praktiseer Magistrate Court outside Burgersfort in Sekhukhune District in yet another bid for bail.
But the court sent the 30 year old back into police custody because his lawyers were not ready to proceed. The case was postponed to September 4 for another attempt at bail, according to Mashudu Malabi-Dzangi, National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson in Limpopo.
Mgiba was captured in a joint operation by police and private investigators in the early hours of June 15 in his suspected hideout at Ivory Park, Tembisa Township in Gauteng Province. It was about 12 days after the charred remains of the two elderly farm hotel owners; Anneke Claassen 73 and her cousin Hennie Claassen 77 were found burnt to death in separate houses on the farm Klipfontein in Ohristad on June 3.
A man wearing a balaclava was allegedly seen running away from the crime scene moments after the brutal attack. The suspect is reportedly a former employee of the two victims, sources said.
The heinous double murder had sent shock waves to communities and the country at large, not only because of the advanced ages of the two farm hotel operators but also the potential negative impact on tourism.
Klipfontein farm is a home to the monumental Echo Caves, a major tourist attraction site thought to be 3800 million years old.
Echo Caves have historical significance however, according to researchers and local communities, some Bapedi tribes hit inside the huge cave and beat the drum like sounding hollow stalactites to warn about advancing attacks by neighboring Swazi tribes over land and superiority.