As the Venda music fraternity mourns the cruel murder of top local Venda music star Moses Maringa (47), questions abound about what had happened.

Moses Maringa’s body was found inside his burnt-out car at Mbhalati in Malamulele on Saturday morning. Also inside the vehicle was the body of Eunice Khosa, 28, of Mdabula. Both bodies could not be identified. Maringa’s body was later identified after his car’s number plates were traced to identify the owner of the car.

Then the police had a further headache, which was to identify the woman who had been in his company.

When Mirror visited the Khosa family early of Tuesday, the dead woman’s uncle, Samson Khosa, said the family was helped by her friend Nandi Ndhambi, who was able to identify the handkerchief found at the scene.

“We do not know what could have led someone to kill our daughter in this barbaric fashion. We believe if she had wronged someone, it was proper to report to us and we could have paid the damages,” he said. She had left school at Grade 11 and she was left at home to hold the fort as her parents were in Johannesburg.

The incident happened last Friday, but the discovery was made the following day.

How the artist and his companion met their deaths remains a mystery and this has left the community and police baffled.

Police spokesperson Insp Alson Mapindani of the Malamulele Police said it was believed that the two had been killed before being set alight. “There was blood on the scene as well as scratches on the ground to suggest that a struggle had taken place,” said Mapindani. He said the police had opened two murder dockets and investigations were continuing.

Maringa was a well-known musician and ran a popular group, Venda Brothers. He was also a senior official of the Department of Home Affairs at Vuwani.

Well-known musician Thomas Hasani Chauke said he was shocked by Maringa’s death. “I produced only his first album but we stayed close. He had parted with the company where I produced him, but since he had enjoyed working with me, he used to say he hoped to work with me again,” said Chauke. He said the death of the musician had left him speechless.