NEWS & ANALYSIS

"Picture strikes fear in kasi!" - Daily Sun

The front page and lead story of SA's largest daily newspaper, November 14 2013

Daily Sun (November 14 2013) - IT HAS a dark head and the pink face and ears of a pig . . .

This mysterious creature was snapped by schoolboy Gabriel Botha on his mother's cellphone.

AND THE PICTURE HAS MADE AN ENTIRE KASI LIVE IN FEAR! They believe it's a tokoloshe - or worse, the spirit of the devil himself!

Gabriel (7) took the picture on Tuesday at his house in Toekomsrus, Randfontein, in Gauteng.

He told Daily Sun he took the phone from his mother Monique after he heard voices telling him to take photos. "I went outside and started shooting anything I could see. "I was shooting flowers when I saw this creature. I took one picture of it but I was too scared to take another.

"I ran back into the house to show my mother what I'd seen," said the grade 2 pupil.

"We are shocked and scared," said Monique. "I don't know whether we are safe or not."

Gabriel's aunt, Karin Koopman (46), said the boy looked worried and didn't go outside the whole afternoon. "We called the pastor who came and prayed for the children and the whole neighbourhood on Tuesday night."

Karin said: "Although we believe in God, we were very scared to see such a thing living among us. "We don't know what message it is bringing to us as a community."

A neighbour in the yard where Gabriel took the photo, Anita Baker, said she believes the creature is the devil's evil spirit.

She said when the boy's mother showed her the picture, it looked like the head of pig sitting in a black pot, while standing on its legs, with a long neck and ears.

She was so scared she ran into the house and started crying. "I couldn't believe something evil like this could be in my yard. I think someone is targeting us to take my life away," she said.

Another resident, Elizabeth Kutoane (18) said she couldn't sleep that night because the picture kept on coming into her head. She feared it was a tokoloshe that would keep returning.

A 16-year-old girl who didn't want to be named said she had also been having bad dreams about the tokoloshe. "I believe it has been haunting us in the community for a long time."

Resident Clive Blommetjies (64), said he couldn't say what the photo on the cellphone was.

But it could have been sent because God was angry about the crime in the community along with the use of drugs, violence and break-ins.

Clive said: "Sometimes God uses children to expose things that are happening. "There is evil happening here, that is why we see the spirit of the devil in our community," he said.

Jessica Foruin (51), said people needed to pray to get rid of the devil's spirit.

See the Daily Sun mobi site for more on this and other stories....

 

The Daily Sun is South Africa's largest daily newspaper with an average circulation of 287 222 (Audit Bureau of Circulations 2nd Quarter 2013) and a readership of 5.7m (as per AMPS 2012ab). Its Facebook page can be accessed here. It can be followed on Twitter here. To find about advertising on the Daily Sun click here.

Issued through the Politicsweb iService