BOTSHABELO — Law enforcement officials in the Free State have taken 30-year-old Dalixolo Ngamlani into custody in Botshabelo, ending an extensive eight-year manhunt for the fugitive who was discovered working as a teacher at a local initiation school.
The apprehension occurred on the morning of Thursday, 24 June 2026, at approximately 11:00. Acting on actionable intelligence, the Provincial Tracking Team located Ngamlani at the initiation school, where he was actively employed as an instructor. Officers moved in swiftly and detained him at the scene without incident.
Ngamlani had been officially circulated as a wanted suspect for over eight years in connection with a severe 2017 case in Kopanong. According to authorities, he forcibly abducted his 28-year-old former girlfriend and confined her inside a shack in Phase 6. The victim was held captive for four days, from 7 June 2017 until 11 June 2017. During her imprisonment, she was repeatedly raped and brutally assaulted with a pole.
The recent arrest has yielded significant investigative breakthroughs. Following his detention, forensic profiling and expanded investigations successfully linked Ngamlani to an additional violent offense: the rape of a 24-year-old woman in Bloemspruit in 2021.
Ngamlani remains in police custody and is scheduled to appear before the local Magistrate’s Court in the near future. He will face a severe docket of charges, including kidnapping, assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm (GBH), and multiple counts of rape stemming from the separate incidents.
