MURDER: Death in Sandton – Themba Malope Investigates
When Themba Malope’s career fast-tracks its way to promotion, this Alexandra resident cannot resist the temptation, although painfully aware of why the promotion is being offered. He wants to make a difference to his world.
However, will his career move give him the satisfaction he craves? Moving to nearby Sandton, the world in which he is now expected to live is a vast contrast to his home in the black township. There are no slums, there are no problems of sanitation. It’s a whole different world.
However, the reminders of the fragility of life await him on his first major case. With obvious connections to a young Afrikaans boy, the death of a Zulu woman must be investigated, regardless of political sensibilities. Warned about involving questioning of the Dekker family, Themba Malope must solve the murder. Will he be able to find the answers? Are they as obvious as they seem on the surface?
MURDER 2: An Unequal Balance – Themba Malope Investigates
When four girls are waylaid on their way home from school, their fate is one that was unexpected. On the road from Sandton to Alexandra, the girls experience an experience they are never likely to forget, leading to the death of one of them.
Reporting the matter to the police isn’t straightforward for Thandeka as this kind of activity is something girls are encouraged to keep to themselves. However, a sense of decency and the fear of reprisals makes her stand her ground. Helped by aid worker,
Thelma Rice comes to Thandeka’s rescue and tries to assist a young girl as she explains the events which made up the worst moments of her life. When Themba Malope is asked to investigate, he knows the limitations of the law. He knows where lines are drawn and is made painfully aware of the difference between the black white divide as he tries to bring culprits to justice.
MURDER 3: Back to Roots – Themba Malope Investigates
Themba Malope, after being transferred to Sandton and after having received promotion in record time, partly due to his own skills and partly to suit local politics, has now decided that life in suburbia isn’t all that it is cracked up to be.
There is a kind of emptiness to his life and a futility when he finds that little effort is made to solve crimes that people with comfortable lives tend to put to one side through apathy. Needing to find incentive, will out hero find a way to make life pan out in the way that he sees as useful? Looking back on his childhood, he misses his friends.
There is only a few miles between Sandton in the suburbs of Johannesburg and the township of Alexandra, but there may as well be a million miles because the contrasts are so vast between the two lifestyles. Themba tries to make sense of his life after a young boy’s mother searches for answers.
