South Africa’s 3 Most Memorable Serial Killers
The Daily Dismay
Elifasi Msomi
Between 1953 and 1955 Elifasi Msomi brutally hacked 15 of his victims to death in the valleys of KwaZulu-Natal, thus earning him the “Axe Killer” label he is known by throughout the country. Msomi is believed to have murdered 15 people within the span of only 18 months — most of these being young boys and women. In one scenario he allegedly raped and murdered a young woman in front of his mistress and kept her blood in a bottle as he believed it would grant him more power. His startled mistress informed the authorities and Msomi was arrested , but it wasn't long before he escaped. He escaped arrest once more after killing 5 other victims before eventually being arrested for petty theft and pinned as the culprit. The Axe Killer was very willing, almost excited to take the police to the locations of his hacked up victims to find their remains and a specific missing skull. The bizarre part of these murders is that when Msomi was tried he insisted that he was merely a pawn for a much more evil entity, namely the Tokoloshe. The tokoloshe is a very well-known evil spirit , originating from Zulu folklore and striking fear into the hearts of many South Africans. Msomi claims that the tokoloshe latched onto him while he was seeking advice from a sangoma and further on instructed him to claim the lives of his 15 victims. Apparently the tokoloshe was also responsible for helping Msomi escape the multiple arrests successfully. Upon further psychological analysis it was determined that the killer was of much higher intelligence than average and gained sexual pleasure from inflicting pain. Elifasi Msomi was sentenced to death and was hung on the 10th of February 1956 in Pretoria Central Prison. The process was observed by 9 Zulu chiefs and elders to ensure that the tokoloshe does not help him escape death, though many of them feared that Msomi himself would return as a tokoloshe after his death.
Christopher Mhlengwa Zikode
Between 1993 and 1995 a rural town called Donnybrook in KwaZulu-Natal experienced the horrifying rape and killing sprees of Cristopher Zikode. Known as the Donnybrook Serial Killer , Zikode was famous for his elaborate entrances to his victims homes where he would kick down the door and immediately shoot all the men in the household. After he had eliminated all the men he would proceed to drag any and all women in the house to a field or plantation in the rural surroundings and continue to rape them for hours on end. He would grab young women walking along footpaths and do the same to them. The strange part of Zikode’s murders are his acts of necrophilia. If the women resisted or fought against him , he would shoot them and continue to have sex with their corpses. Zikode was arrested in 1995 for the attempted murder of a female victim, but was released on bail. After that he continued his crime parade committing 5 more offenses including rape, robbery, murder, attempted murder and breaking into a home with the intent to rape. Zikode was eventually arrested on the 29th of September 1995. In January 1997 the Donnybrook murderer was sentenced to 140 years (5 life sentences) in prison at the conviction of 21 charges including rape, assault ,murder and attempted murder.
Moses Sithole
Moses Sithole is probably the most well-known serial killer throughout South Africa. His murders started in Atteridgeville, spread to Boksburg and eventually came to an end in Cleveland, Johannesburg. This earned him his ABC or Gauteng Killer title. Sithole would take on the role of a business man and offer jobs to his potential victims,who were primarily female. Once he gained their trust he would accompany them into a field to a supposed business spot where he would overpower , rape and strangle them to death once he was sure they were out of earshot. In certain cases Sithole would call the victims’ families and taunt them with gory details of the rape and murder. The ABC Killer started a nationwide panic in 1995 when his victims added up to a disturbing amount of 30 people in total. A year prior to this Sithole was imprisoned for rape and he himself was sexually assaulted. The murder spree began shortly after his release that year. In August 1995 Sithole’s fake ‘business man’ identity was exposed when he was spotted with one of his victims and identified by police. Naturally the serial killer fled but he soon contacted a journalist and confessed to his murders. Attempts were made by police to track down the phone Sithole was using to contact her but it was too late. Sithole got in contact with his brother-in-law who agreed to help him and provide him with a gun. When Sithole arrived at the meeting spot he rightfully suspected a trap and ran. He eventually attacked the police with a hatchet and they shot him twice before taking him into custody where he confessed to his murders. In December 1997 the Gauteng Killer was sentenced to 2410 years in prison. 12 years for each of the 40 rapes , 5 years for each of the 6 robberies , and 50 years for each of the 38 murders. Eligible for parole after serving at least 930 years. The disconcerting part of Moses Sithole is how completely average he was. He was a mild-mannered man with a wife and child and friends. Sithole’s father died when he was 5 ,after which his mother abandoned him and his siblings. They spent years in an orphanage where he claims they were horribly mistreated. He blames the 7 years he spent in prison as a teenager for becoming a murderer and says that all his victims reminded him of the women who falsely accused him of rape in the first place. Moses was tested positively for HIV and received treatment for it in prison, but his wife and child died of it as they did not qualify for healthcare.
