According to a source close to the case, the two men were known to little Chanelle McCrawl, whose battered body was discovered by her ouma on the bank of the Vygieskraal River on Friday morning.
The girl was reported missing on Thursday night and the source says Chanelle had been bludgeoned to death and had extensive facial injuries.
The incident sparked a children’s march, a vigil and an attack on one of the alleged perpetrators in Manenberg over the weekend.
On Friday, the girl’s mother, Charmaine, told the Daily Voice that Chanelle was last seen on Thursday morning when she left for school.
But Roegshanda Pascoe, chairperson of the Edendale School Governing Body, says the Grade 4 pupil never arrived at school.
Charmaine said when her child did not return home, the family went looking for her and reported her missing to police.
They did not search the area by the river because it had grown too dark.
Manenberg Community Police Forum (CPF) chairperson Kader Jacobs says they had planned to go to the river the next morning with sniffer dogs.
On Friday morning the girl’s granny went to the river to look for her and found the body.
A Primrose Park resident, who asked not to be named, says: “She came running and shouting and screaming that I must call the police, so I did. I didn’t go and look.”
The source says the girl’s body was wrapped in a sheet and she was still wearing her school uniform.
SEARCH: Mom Charmaine McCrawl. Photo: Leon Knipe
“It looks like she had gotten a bad beating. Her face was bludgeoned. She had no other injuries and the forensics people checked on site and there appeared to be no evidence that she had been raped or sexually assaulted. She was fully clothed and her underwear was intact.”
Later that day, a 29-year-old man who lives in the girl’s house in Audrey Court was attacked as people believed he was responsible for her murder.
The source says police also took the girl’s 32-year-old uncle in for questioning.
Police spokesperson, Sergeant Noloyiso Rwexana, confirms that two men aged 29 and 32 were taken in for questioning and says the circumstances around the murder are being investigated.
No arrests were made by last night.
When Daily Voice visited the family yesterday, relatives refused to talk about the case, saying they were waiting for information from police.
Pascoe says the school staff and pupils are shocked by Chanelle’s death and plan to host a memorial service for her this week.
Jacobs says the CPF was concerned about the amount of time that had lapsed before Chanelle’s family realised she was missing.
SCENE: Chanelle's bludgeoned body was wrapped in a sheet and found at Vygieskraal River. Photo: Leon Knipe
“There is a couple of things that are very disturbing and when we questioned them [family] about her [Chanelle’s] routine, we found out that she leaves at 7.30am to a neighbour to have porridge then goes home to get her backpack,” he says.
“Then she comes home at about 3pm, goes to an after-school facility around the corner for extra lessons and that goes on until 5pm, and then she comes home.
“When I questioned the family, they said she never misses the after-classes, so when she never pitched, did nobody send anyone to check?
“At 5.05pm when she was not at home, did anyone question it, and at 6pm they said she is missing.
“So there is a concern about the attention parents pay about their child’s movement.”