Themba Vilakazi

In July 2005, Vilakazi allegedly murdered Moses Cibi, a black man, by stabbing him 17 times in the left side of the chest. Although the man died on the grass next to the railway, Vilakazi dragged his body onto the train tracks and stole his shoes before fleeing the scene. Cibi's body was discovered after it was hit by a train. Investigators initially believed his death to have been accidental or a suicide until they realized the nature of the wounds. The man's clothes were found in a bush nearby, and there were no stab wounds through the clothing, meaning that Cibi had been undressed prior to the stabbing.[4][5]

On 23 July 2005, another body was found beside train tracks at the Belle Ombre Plaza. The victim, an unknown man, died from 54 stab wounds to the chest, back, and arm.[3] The victim's clothes had been found at the scene, but not on him, and there had been no stab wounds through the clothes. His shoes were also missing. The phrase "7 left" was written in red on a sleeper next to the body. At the time, detectives were uncertain whether the message was written by the perpetrator or if it was unrelated to the case.[4] Vilakazi later confessed to being behind the message, claiming to have written it because he wanted to murder seven more people.[6]

On 11 August 2005, Vilakazi stabbed Michael Mokaba, another black man, 24 times in the neck and top-left chest, killing him.[3] Mokaba tried to run away, but Vilakazi caught up to him, stripped him of his clothes, and murdered him. His body was discovered near the Pretoria Zoo, over the road from where the last victim was found. DNA was on the scene, but the authorities could not match it to any known suspects. They also found an area where someone, likely the perpetrator, had been occupying. There, police found a cross and pornographic magazines among other items.

The next victim was a black female sex worker from Sunnyside, whose corpse was found in Brooklyn near the first victim. She had been stabbed in the neck and right shoulder, and her clothes had been strewn about the area. However, due to the victims gender, investigators are unsure if her murder is linked to Vilakazi, or if it was just coincidental. After detectives investigated the cases and found no leads, the six-person task force was disbanded, and they moved on to other cases.[4]

At 1:00 p.m. on 11 November 2005, Vilakazi fatally stabbed 11-year-old Raipela Aaron Masango in the torso and neck with a knife. Unlike the previous victims, Masango was not undressed and instead found in his school uniform. He was also killed in a different area than the other victims. Because of the dissimilarities, the case was not linked to the others. Investigators found DNA on the knife handle, but they did not test it against the DNA found at the Mokaba crime scene.[1][4]

On 19 October 2012, Vilakazi approached two men and offered to buy them food. One of the men declined the offer, but the other, an 18-year-old, followed Vilakazi. Once they reached a secluded area, Vilakazi threatened the man with a knife and forced him to walk under a bridge, where he robbed him of his phone and money. Afterwards, Vilakazi sodomized him.[4]