04/12/2025
LETS NOT FORGET THE TRADGEDY OF BOITUMELO DLAMINI
Jealousy, Betrayal and Brutality:
The True Story of How a Matric Pupil Was Abducted and Set Alight in Brits, South Africa
In June 2015, the quiet town of Brits in the North West Province was shaken by a crime so senseless and cruel that it continues to haunt South Africans nearly a decade later. It is a story of teenage jealousy that spiraled into murderous rage, of friends who chose violence over reason, and of a young life extinguished before it ever had the chance to bloom. This is the devastating true story of Boitumelo Dlamini, an 18-year-old Grade 12 learner — and the women who abducted and burned her alive.
On the morning of 18 June 2015, Boitumelo arrived at school like any other day. She was a matric pupil at a high school in Letlhabile, a township outside Brits. Described as bright, ambitious and soft-spoken, she reportedly dreamed of working in the legal field or becoming an investigator. But her hopes, her future and her life would be brutally stolen over something heartbreakingly trivial — a dispute involving an ex-boyfriend.
Cynthia Mosupi believed that Boitumelo was dating her former partner. Instead of moving on, she nurtured her jealousy and anger until it turned into something far darker. Consumed by rage, she enlisted the help of her friend, Sharon Gugu Thwala, along with other acquaintances. They claimed they wanted to “talk” to Boitumelo, but what they truly intended was far more sinister. Boitumelo had no idea that the women who walked onto her school grounds that day weren’t coming to confront her — they were coming to kill her.
Witnesses recalled seeing Boitumelo being forced into a car by Mosupi, Thwala and others. Her classmates watched helplessly as the attackers sped away. She was taken to a remote, bushy area near the Klipgat cemetery, a lonely place where no one could hear her screams or come to her rescue…