A Grave Discovery

It’s the case Detective Babeile thought he’d never solve, but a ghost story and buried bones finally bring closure to Turf.

- Lezanne Janse Van Rensburg

In case you missed it: there’s a ghost in Turfloop. Whether it’s real or not is still a matter of debate, but the presence of a supposed wandering spirit is about to unearth skeletons from the past – one person’s skeleton to be exact. While many residents took the ghost story to heart, some are not yet convinced. Detective Babeile (Matthews Manamela) is sceptical. “Are ghosts actually real?” asks Matthews. “We don’t know. But with witnesses claiming to have seen and interacted with it, there has to be an explanation. That’s why Babeile decides to investigate.” And his hunch soon pays off.

COLD CASE

Call it a sixth sense or good old investigative work, but following a few leads, Babeile is led back to a case that’s been haunting him since November 2019: the disappearance of pageant queen it-girl Kelebogile “Kele” Kgomo (Mmathema Kgomo). “She disappeared suddenly,” Matthews reminds us. “He is convinced that Kele is involved in this ghost story. Babeile always felt bad for not providing closure to the family.”

For now, the late Tumishang (Mothusi Magano) and his then-lawyer Leeto (Eric Macheru) are the only people who know of Kele’s whereabouts. Following a kidnapping-gone-wrong, Tumishang hid her body in an undisclosed location. He then took his secret to the grave after being fatally shot during a dramatic hostage situation, and attorney-client privilege prevented Leeto from speaking out.

THEM BONES