5 Scary South African Serial Killers

Here are five scary South African serial killers who claimed at least seven murder victims each, with a total of 75 lives between them.

Johannes Mashiane: The Beast of Atteridgeville

Mashiane killed 13 people over a 12-year period from 1977 to 1989 and remains one of the most infamous South African serial killers.

His first victim in 1977 was his girlfriend who he strangled to death. He was caught shortly after and sentenced to only five years before being released in 1982.

From his release until his death in 1989, he raped and killed at least 12 small boys.

He would either strangle them or stone them to death and would sodomise them before and after their deaths. Mashiane was caught red-handed while molesting his fourteenth victim, but police were informed and gave chase through a large Pretoria suburb.

Before he could be caught, he threw himself in front of a bus and was killed instantly.

His suicide robbed the victims’ families of motive and justice. He was known as The Beast of Atteridgeville due to the area within Pretoria where he carried out his crimes.

Maoupa Cedric Maake: The Wemmer Pan Killer

South African serial killer and criminal, Maoupa Cedric Maake, AKA: The Wemmer Pan Killer, took the lives of at least 27 people from 1996 to 1997.

The Wemmer Pan moniker came about because of the area of Johannesburg where he was claiming most of his victims.

Maake would kill people using two distinct methods of tracking and killing. He would follow men or women who were walking alone then attack them from behind with a small rock to the back of the head.

In the case of the men, he would bludgeon them to death. In the case of the women, he would rape and abuse them first before killing them also.

The second targets were young couples in cars, in and around his local area. He would surprise the couple and then shoot the male in the head before dragging the female from the car and raping her, before shooting her dead.

Maake was arrested in December of 1997 and immediately confessed to some of the crimes, showing police the areas where he carried out the murders.

He was charged with 36 counts of murder, 28 attempted murders, 15 rapes, and various other charges relating to robbery and assault.

He pleaded not guilty, but in September of 2000, he was convicted of 27 of the murders, 26 attempted murders, 14 rapes, and a raft of other charges.

He was sentenced to 27 life sentences which along with the other charges amounted to 1,340 years in prison.

Samuel Bongani Mfeka: The Kranskop Killer

Mfeka raped and killed six women in the KwaZulu Natal area of South Africa between 1993 and 1996.

He was also accused at one point of being the Nasrec Strangler, who had left 15 bodies in his wake around the same time.

In September 1996, the body of Mfeka’s final victim was discovered, and on the same day Mfeka was arrested on a rape charge.

While in custody, Mfeka confessed to six murders and told police he would show them where the bodies were. Four of the victims were unearthed nearby to where Mfeka lived, and most bodies were in a severe stage of decomposition.

There were similarities between the victims of Mfeka and the Nasrec Strangler, and the investigation went on longer than expected.

Mfeka was convicted of the six murders and sentenced to life. He was known as The Kranskop Killer due to the township in which he committed the murders.

David Mmbengwa: The Lover’s Lane Killer

Mmbengwa claimed his first victim in 1991 during a robbery, and he was arrested and sentenced to six years in prison for culpable murder.

After four years, he was released from prison, and went on to kill seven more people. Most of his killings came about from robberies and were couples who were making love in their cars, hence the moniker the press attributed to him.

Among his victims, he claimed a Police Inspector, a Police Sergeant, and a Government Agriculture Official, making him one of the most feared of all South African serial killers.

He was arrested on 14th November 1996 but managed to escape the Silverton Police Station where he was being held. He was recaptured a few hours later and 23 counts of murder were laid at his feet.

Mmbengwa was convicted of seven murders in total and given a life sentence for each of them. He also received another 46 years for various other crimes including robbery.

Mukosi Freddy Mulaudzi: The Limpopo Serial Killer

Mulaudzi murdered at least 13 people from 1990 to 2006. He was originally convicted for two murders and an armed robbery in 1990 but managed to escape Baviaanspoort Prison in Pretoria in 1996.

He carried on a life of crime and murder until his re-arrest in July of 2006. A year before his arrest, he raped and killed four young girls at the same time.

19-year-old Ndivhuwo Winnity Tshilimandila was raped and then hacked to death. Her cousins aged seven, 10, and 14, were also raped and brutally murdered. It was a quadruple murder that shocked South Africa.

A few months later, in Tshsdza Village, he killed a mother and her two young children in their home. He stabbed 30-year-old Phophi Tracy Radzilani to death then tied her two children to their bed, before setting fire to the house.

Five-year-old Moses Mushiana and seven-year-old Rotondwa were burned alive in their bedroom. His last victim was in 2006, when he killed Shonisani Thinandavha in Mulodi. She had been found partially cannibalised. Her breasts, right hand, left ear, and lips had been sliced off.

Mulaudzi was captured shortly after. At his trial in 2006, he was sentenced to 11 life sentences for 13 murders. He remains one of the most terrifying South African serial killers.