‘You can tell by the deep level of grief that he loved his community and that the community loved him. I know it causes more pain that Malatjie died at the hands of another person,” said Merafong Executive Mayor Nozuko Best at the Khutsong Community Hall during the funeral service of murdered Khutsong councillor Thabo Malatjie.

Best told mourners that Malatjie did not wait to be elected to effect change in his community, but had done so long before he became a councillor.

Malatjie won the election in Ward 4 in Khutsong Extension 3 in last year’s local election, as an independent.

According to a report in the Carletonville Herald, Malatjie drove to Lesotho on 4 September with his friend Wesi Letingoana. They checked into a bed and breakfast in Maseru, where they befriended a man who asked Malatjie to take him and his three friends to another town.

Along the way, the men produced firearms and robbed Malatjie of R8,000, two cellphones and a laptop. They drove him to the mountainous area of Ramabanta where they shot and killed him. They then returned to the bed and breakfast and got Letingoana to accompany them to where they said Malatjie was waiting.

They drove Letingoana to the town of Butha-Buthe, where, after robbing him, they shot and killed him.

Police in Lesotho said they had arrested three of four suspects during the past week.

Malatjie (31) was buried on 17 September after a memorial service at the Khutsong community.

“We are here to celebrate the life of the young councillor who has just left us,” Best told mourners, adding that Malatjie had achieved much during his 10 months as a councillor.

“He was the kind of person who loved his community. We have seen his good deeds. And the community of Ward 4 loved Malatjie,” Best said. DM