A community is in shock after they discovered the body of an elderly woman near her backyard home.
It is believed Monica Madikane, 55, was raped and murdered.
She was found wearing her night dress pulled up, exposing her buttocks.
Her underwear and socks were found in an alley near her Overcome Heights home.
It is believed Monica, who lived alone, was raped and strangled early on Saturday morning.
Neighbour Nandipha Stuurman, 32, says: “When we found her, her night dress was up and saw she didn’t have underwear on, we knew that she had been raped.
“Her underwear and socks found in the gangetjie was a sign (of rape) too.”
She says Monica’s hokkie door was closed but the burglar gate was open.
She lay in front of her toilet and the blanket she usually wrapped around her waist was lying near her feet.
“When I walked to her shack, I saw that her bag was in a different gangetjie,” says Nandipha.
“The bag contained her ID and SASSA card and pills.
“Nothing was taken from her place, nothing seemed out of place.”
The victim was last seen on New Year’s Day drinking and chatting with other community members.
“They were drinking wine and she went home around midnight,” says Nandipha.
“What happened after that is a mystery to all of us because no one has reported anything about seeing someone by the hokkie.
“We assume the killer must have been watching her drink and thought she had money.
“But I can’t understand why they had to kill her and I am sure it is a youngster who did all of this.
"They could have spared her life, if they wanted money they should have just taken it.”
Nandipha told the Daily Voice that the victim has no family in Cape Town.
“She said she was from Oudtshoorn and she had kids, but we don’t know where they are. We are stuck now trying to find ways to contact her family so they can give her a dignified funeral instead of her being cremated.
“She hated talking about her background even when people took photos of her, she refused and said people wanted to expose her on Khumbul’ekhaya, a TV show for missing people.”
Police did not reply to queries about the incident.