It’s Monday morning August 18th, 2008 at a school in Krugersdorp. The bell has just rung for morning assembly so all the students are making their way towards the hall in groups, chatting among themselves. 

Two 16-yo boys Jacques Pretorius and his friend JC are walking in together when the unthinkable happens. They didn’t have any real warning. Some kids in the vicinity said they heard someone say “Want to see something cool?” just before that someone swung a sword at Jacques, catching him at the neck. He fell to the ground, while all around them kids began to scream and run. 

This is a story of a horrific school attack, but also sensationalist media and South Africa’s satanic panic.

patreon.com/ithappenedhere

Sources:

·      Nic Diederichs Technical High School slashing - Wikipedia

·      Harmse 'liked to sharpen sword': South Africa: News: News24

·      'Want to see something cool?': South Africa: News: News24

·      The Times - The devil didn’t make him do it

·      ‘Satanist’ kills boy at school | Witness

·      Sword attack was 'carefully planned'

·      Satanic link to school murder

·      ‘Satanist’ kills boy at school | Witness

·      22 August 2008. South Africa. Jacques Pretorius, who was killed by a... News Photo - Getty Images

·      Today, 10 years ago, a boy walked into his school with a samurai sword ... | Krugersdorp News

·       Harmse 'wanted to be noticed'

·       He planned a massacre …

·       What now, sir?  https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/now-what-sir-412851#.UYUQNaJTCz4

·       https://mg.co.za/article/2009-09-10-sword-killer-harmse-sentenced-to-20-years-in-jail/

·       https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/the-mercury-south-africa/20090911/282415575321533

·       https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/2009-04-15-i-swung-sword/

·       https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/sword-boy-tells-of-ghost-414082

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Vlakfontein is the kind of place where you know your neighbours by name and by sight. But in October of 2018, no one had seen the Khoza family from 4192 Ibis Crescent for a few days. 

There are quite a few people who call this property home. Mbali Khoza is the homeowner, and she lives here with a long-term boyfriend Fita Khupe and her sister Dudu Khoza. Dudu’s kids – Nomfundo, Luyanda and Sbongakonke – also lived there, and Nomfundo herself had two kids, Karabo and Nkanyiso. 

It is very common in South Africa for multiple generations of the same family to share a home. It is also common, if you have the space, to rent out your back rooms for some extra income. Andre Cossa is one such tenant. He didn’t have to go through the main house to access his room, but all the same he was getting pretty concerned about his landlords by the end of the month, not least of all because of the increasingly alarming odour emanating from behind the closed doors and windows of the main house and another back room. 

That’s how this incredibly infuriating case starts, before meandering through false identities, dodgy politicians, journalists overstepping the mark, incompetent prosecutions… and the ending will leave you both confused and frustrated. 

Sources

-        https://www.news24.com/drum/News/family-of-the-seven-people-found-dead-in-a-vlakfontein-house-speak-out-20190217

-        (https://www.news24.com/news24/SouthAfrica/News/vlakfontein-residents-up-in-arms-after-man-accused-of-seven-murders-walks-free-20190607)

-        https://www.enca.com/news/gruesome-details-vlakfontein-murder-revealed-court

-        https://www.enca.com/news/gruesome-details-vlakfontein-murder-revealed-court

-        https://www.enca.com/news/vlakfontein-family-speaks-out

-        https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/gauteng/vlakfontein-khupe-forced-me-to-rape-and-kill-the-khozas-says-mabaso-18310112 https://lowvelder.co.za/lnn/532843/vlakfontein-murder-accused-ernest-mabaso-commits-suicide

-        https://www.npa.gov.za/sites/default/files/media-releases/NPA%20Withdraws%20Charges%20Against%20Fita%20Khupe.pdf

-        https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/mabaso-details-how-he-raped-killed-khoza-family-in-vlakfontein/

-        https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/south-africa/2018-11-06-grieving-dad-wont-forgive-vlakfontein-killers/

-        https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/south-africa/2018-12-05-dates-of-vlakfontein-murders-disputed-in-court-by-accuseds-lawyer/

-        https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/south-africa/2019-06-10-parents-of-vlakfontein-mass-murder-victims-fume-over-khupes-case/

-        https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/south-africa/2019-06-10-parents-of-vlakfontein-mass-murder-victims-fume-over-khupes-case/

-        https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2018-12-06-vlakfontein-murder-suspect-originally-treated-as-a-victim-court-hears/

-        https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2018-12-06-vlakfontein-murder-suspect-originally-treated-as-a-victim-court-hears/

-        https://youtu.be/A_zjq_wDauQ

-        https://youtu.be/rIw0GFvgBJ4

https://youtu.be/xVPaAeenLno

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It’s 2016, July 24th, and the receptionist on duty of Spier Hotel has just taken a call from a guest in need of a maintenance man. Spier is a four-star hotel, positioned on one of the country’s oldest wine farms. Maintenance work Desmond Daniels responds to the call, and at this moment, of the lock turning, two versions of the story splinter off. What maintenance man Desmond and husband Jason describe on the other side of the bathroom door was either a tragic suicide by a distraught and heartbroken woman, or the deliberate murder and cover up by her scheming husband. 

Sources:

·       https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times/news/2017-11-11-if-words-could-kill-the-rohdes-chilling-whatsapp-warfare/

·       https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2017-11-21-rohdes-defence-relates-how-he-hit-his-wife-susan/

·       https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/rohdes-wifes-family-prejudged-and-ostracised-him-court-hears-20171102

·       https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/just-in-convicted-wife-killer-jason-rohdes-appeal-will-be-heard-on-16-august-20210621

·       https://www.news24.com/news24/SouthAfrica/News/jason-rohde-told-his-wife-he-was-done-with-their-marriage-hours-before-she-was-found-dead-20180528

·       https://www.news24.com/news24/SouthAfrica/News/jason-rohde-arrested-for-wifes-murder-20160823

·       https://www.magzter.com/stories/Entertainment/YOU-South-Africa/Murdered-Mom-Remembered

·       https://www.iol.co.za/weekend-argus/news/mom-of-slain-susan-rohde-struggling-to-mourn-support-grandkids-18433664

·       https://www.iol.co.za/news/chilling-details-of-rohde-murder-2061590

·       https://www.iol.co.za/capeargus/news/sotheby-bosss-wifes-death-a-suicide-pathologist-2060984

·       https://shakedowntitle.com/2018/08/10/according-to-brendan-miller-susan-rohde-was-calm-shortly-before-her-death/

·       https://citizen.co.za/news/1947363/infographic-what-happened-according-to-murder-accused-jason-rohde/

·       http://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAWCHC/2018/146.html

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Today I’m talking about hate crimes and homophobia in South Africa. For this episode, we are traveling to KwaThema, a township in Gauteng. There is electricity in kwathema, but there are also these huge towering spotlight-style street lights. They’re lifted that high to try provide a measure of light and security, but there are always bits the light doesn’t reach. And it was in a patch of deep shadow, in an alley between buildings that a woman called Noxolo Nogwaza was killed in April 2011. Noxolo – which means peace in Zulu - was just 24. She was a mum to two small kids, and she lived with her gran Vuyelwa. She loved soccer, and kwaito music. And, she just so happened to be gay – and it was this fact that made her the target of violent homophobes. 

Music by Matt Riggen: 

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=APy4JmdZRj8&list=RDAMVMAPy4JmdZRj8

https://www.amazon.com/An-Afterlife-for-Noxolo-Nogwaza/dp/B075BHNLDM

https://open.spotify.com/album/6szYBqJ2QLPyZilbB57Z3S?highlight=spotify:track:3zwt18c7a6EiKhc62so6nj

Sian Green Psychology: https://sgpsychology.co.za/

SOURCES

·      http://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/07/26/opinion/26corrective-rape.html

·      https://inkanyiso.org/2013/05/06/2013-may-6-archiving-noxolo-nogwazas-funeral/

·      https://kemptonexpress.co.za/270983/ekurhuleni-pride-to-be-hosted-in-tembisa/

·      https://open.spotify.com/show/3FvJkU9NUNNKGRoTUgNDwr

·      https://outrightinternational.org/content/call-action-against-brutal-rape-and-murder-south-african-lesbian-noxolo-nogwaza

·      https://wazimap.co.za/profiles/ward-79700074-ekurhuleni-ward-74-79700074/

·      https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2013/04/two-years-on-no-justice-for-hate-crime-in-south-africa/

·      https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2012/10/blog-south-africas-townships-still-not-safe-gay-lesbian-and-transgender-people/

·      https://www.hrw.org/node/242800/printable/print

·      https://www.iol.co.za/the-star/no-progress-in-corrective-rape-probe-1284429

·      https://www.latimes.com/world/la-xpm-2011-may-27-la-fg-south-africa-gay-killings-20110528-story.html

·      https://www.pride.com/soapbox/south-african-lesbian-activist-murdered

·      https://www.researchgate.net/publication/311717843_What_is_wrong_with_'Corrective_Rape'

·      https://www.thedailyvox.co.za/four-years-on-still-no-justice-for-noxolo/

·      https://www.voanews.com/africa/south-africa-establishes-team-respond-homophobic-crimes

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25 June 2021 - Earlier this week news broke that convicted murderer Donovan Moodley is applying for parole. Donovan was convicted for the kidnapping and murder of Leigh Matthews, which was the subject of episode one of It Happened Here, so if you haven’t yet done so, give that a listen so you have a good idea just how cold, remorseless, and twisted Donovan is. 

This is a brief update on what he family had to say about this development.

·      Cape Talk: https://www.capetalk.co.za/articles/419964/what-would-it-achieve-leigh-matthews-family-won-t-meet-with-killer-they-say

·      ENCA: https://www.enca.com/news/leigh-matthews-father-says-donovan-moodley-has-shown-no-remorse

·      Scielo: http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1727-37812011000500005

·      The citizen 1: https://citizen.co.za/news/opinion/opinion-editorials/2544198/leigh-matthews-donovan-moodley-parole-process-overhaul/

·      The Citizen 2: https://citizen.co.za/news/2544149/it-gets-easier-but-it-doesnt-go-away-says-leigh-matthews-grieving-father/

·      Wikipedia:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_imprisonment_in_South_Africa

·      Wits justice Project: http://www.witsjusticeproject.co.za/news-and-insights-category/10-things-to-know-about-parole-in-south-africa

·      WMACA facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WMACAKidz/

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Uyinene – sometimes called Nene – was just 19 years old when she disappeared while out and about running errands, prompting a nationwide alarm and search. It is often credited as the spark of the #aminext movement, which was a local iteration of the global #metoo movement. This case was so shocking to South Africans that it sparked protests in both the real world and social streets, calling on our government to do something, anything, to turn the tide on the seemingly endless instances of gender-based violence and femicides. 

An obvious but necessary trigger warning: This episode covers gender-based violence, including sexual assault, so please consider your own emotional and mental wellbeing and how they may be affected by these topics, before listening.  

Sources:

·      https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-50431903

·      https://www.capetownetc.com/news/uct-students-rally-to-bring-missing-girl-home/

·      https://www.change.org/p/south-african-government-bring-back-the-death-sentence-in-sa-for-crimes-against-women?

·      https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/15/africa/south-africa-student-murder-sentence/index.html

·      https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/South_Africa_2012.pdf?lang=en

·      https://www.instagram.com/uyinene/

·      https://www.news24.com/news24/SouthAfrica/News/publics-rallying-cry-as-pi-hired-to-help-find-missing-uct-student-uyinene-20190828

·      https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/uyinene-mrwetyanas-body-was-hidden-in-post-office-safe-overnight-says-state-20191107

·      https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-death-of-uyinene-mrwetyana-and-the-rise-of-south-africas-aminext-movement

·      https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/uyinene-mrwetyana-more-investigators-join-the-search-for-missing-student/

·      https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/uyinene-mrwetyana-uct-intensifies-the-search-for-missing-student/

·      https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2019-08-31-man-arrested-in-connection-with-disappearance-of-uyinene-mrwetyana/

·      https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2019-11-15-in-his-own-words-luyanda-botha-this-is-how-i-killed-uyinene/

Bed music: Awen by The Mind Orchestra is licensed under a Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License(https://freemusicarchive.org/music/The_Mind_Orchestra/The_Mind_Orchestra_-_Singles/awen)

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This story is full of disturbing and mature material. It also deals with violence against children and sexual assault. So please bear that in mind before listening. 

Sheldean Human was born on the second of April 1999, to mother Elize and father Wikus. By the time we enter the story, Her parents divorced and Sheldean lives with her mom in Pretoria, a city north of Johannesburg, South Africa. Sheldean attended the nearby primary school, where her teachers described her as friendly and self-confident, independent, and a pretty child with her straight blonde hair cut into blunt fringe. 

On the evening of Sunday 18 Feb, 2007, at about 6pm, Elize went to go socialise with a friend who lived in a flat at the back of the commune property. It’s Summer in South Africa, and the sun would still be up. Her daughter was playing in the front garden with another little girl who lived there. Mary’s mom calls her in for bath time, leaving Sheldean in the yard alone. By 6:45pm, just as the sun is starting to set, Elize heads to the front to collect Sheldean, so that they can get a jump on prepping for the school day tomorrow, but she is not where she is supposed to be. 

Sources:

1.     Cape Talk: http://www.capetalk.co.za/articles/257580/gentle-giant-piet-byleveld-remembered-for-his-legendary-detective-skills

2.     Crimes uncovered: https://tubitv.com/tv-shows/503736/s01-e06-taken-the-sheldean-human-story?start=true

3.     ENCA: https://www.enca.com/south-africa/south-africa-s-super-cop-the-top-cases-piet-byleveld-helped-crack

4.     EWN: https://ewn.co.za/2017/05/24/sa-super-sleuth-piet-byleveld-dies

5.     EWN: https://ewn.co.za/2017/06/01/watch-piet-byleveld-given-hero-s-send-off

6.     https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2017-06-02-manhunter-bylevelds-last-case/

7.     News24: https://www.news24.com/channel/tv/news/three-reasons-to-binge-gritty-cape-town-cop-drama-die-byl-20190716

8.     News24: https://www.news24.com/news24/sheldeans-killer-got-what-he-deserved-20120214

9.     News24: https://www.news24.com/news24/court-hears-how-sheldean-died-20080522

10.  TimesLive: https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2017-05-24-everything-i-believe-in-one-word-hope-piet-bylevelds-cv/

11.  True Crime South Africa: https://truecrimesouthafrica.com/ and https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2020-04-24-podcast--sheldean-human-silence-is-deadly/

Bed music: Awen by The Mind Orchestra is licensed under a Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License(https://freemusicarchive.org/music/The_Mind_Orchestra/The_Mind_Orchestra_-_Singles/awen)

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It’s the 21st of July 2004, Eliot Makhubela and his nephew Samuel were cutting grass in open patches of land near the village of Walkerville, South Africa. Eliot made a living drying and selling this long grass as roof thatching. 

It had been a long day, and although they were knocking off, they decided to stop by one last spot. This was where they were going to start the next day, so they were scouting it out essentially. 

It was Samuel who first spotted something in the grass although he didn’t know what it was, but as soon as Eliot saw it, he knew it was a body. There in the scrubby veld lay a young woman, naked and lying on her back, her face turned to the side, and clearly dead with three gunshot wounds.

They didn’t know it at the time, but this was the body of Leigh Matthews, a student who’d been missing for 12 days, a young woman whose disappearance the whole country had been talking about for days. 

Source material:

·       Sapa (iol): https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/leigh-matthews-is-dead-217753#.UUdJuxdTCz4

·       News 24: https://www.news24.com/News24/Kidnapped-girl-still-missing-20040711

·       Iol: https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/moodleys-appeal-dismissed-485151#.UUd13BdTCz4

·       NicoleClaire (youtube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-sHsoEHLwA

·       Mail & Guardian: https://mg.co.za/article/2005-11-18-donovan-moodley-i-was-framed/

·       You mag: https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/you-south-africa/20190801/281565177356771

·       Evidence locker podcast: https://evidencelockerpodcast.com/transcript-97-the-murder-of-leigh-matthews-south-africa/

·       Saturday Star: https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/gauteng/leigh-murder-shocker-1172123

·       Byleveld: Dossier of a Serial Sleuth, by Hanlie Retief: https://www.amazon.com/Byleveld-dossier-serial-Hanlie-Retief-ebook/dp/B005JD2OES

·       News 24: https://www.news24.com/News24/I-am-too-clever-says-Donovan-Moodley-20120125

·       News 24: https://www.news24.com/News24/Moodleys-application-dismissed-20091125

·       News 24: https://www.news24.com/News24/Moodley-shows-no-emotion-as-verdict-read-20120201

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