The body of a young girl was found on Muizenberg beach on Friday, Cape Town police said.

The girl had been buried in the sand.

"Because the body of the girl was exposed to the elements, it is not possible to make an identification yet, or to speculate on her age," Lieutenant-Colonel André Traut said.

The cause of her death would be established during a post-mortem, he said.

"Forensic procedures will be used to determine her identity."

Police are investigating a case of murder.

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A 77-year-old farmer has been shot dead at his home in Stella, near Vryburg, North West police said on Monday.

Hendrik Cilliers was found half-naked on the ground five metres from his house on Sunday evening, said Brigadier Thulane Ngubane.

He had a bullet wound to his head, and his hands and feet were bound with shoelaces, said Ngubane.

A neighbour called the police when he saw Cilliers's car on the main road and his phone went unanswered.

The motive for his murder was unknown and police were searching for his killers.

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A Free State mother and her two children, one of them a nine-month-old baby, were found murdered in their Botshabelo house by a neighbour, Free State police said on Monday.

Constable Consolation Mokoale said the bodies were discovered at noon on Sunday, when the neighbour became worried about not seeing the woman during the morning.

The neighbour found the shack's door open and was shocked to find the body of a 13-year-old girl in the kitchen.

The 39-year-old mother was found in the bedroom with the body of her nine-month-old baby boy the floor.

The police were called and on arrival they found the mother with several stab wounds to the chest and back.

The girl was strangled with an electric cord, while the baby`s neck was broken.

It was alleged that the woman was last seen with her boyfriend the night before.

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A man and his wife have been killed on a farm in Rustenburg in the North West, police said on Thursday.

Don du Plessis (72) and his wife Jackie (68) were apparently assaulted with "objects" at their home around 2am on Wednesday, Captain Elsabe Augustides said.

A visitor found their bodies in separate bedrooms two hours later. The wife had also been shot once in the head.

An undisclosed amount of cash was stolen from the safe as well as a camera and a laptop, Augustides said.

Police were looking to question a Zimbabwean couple, who had been working for the Du Plessis couple. The woman was a domestic while her boyfriend did general work on a bird farm.

"Police have linked the two to the crime because they disappeared a day before the bodies were found," Augustides said.

A house robbery and two murder dockets have been opened.

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A man has gone on a crime spree in Pretoria, first stealing firearms, then stabbing a man to death in a flower shop, before abducting and raping a woman at a church, according to a report on Tuesday.

He was tracked down by the police and hospitalised after being shot in the head, according to Beeld newspaper.

The 21-year-old man broke into a house in Retief Street in Lyttelton on Monday morning where he stole a hunting rifle and revolver.

From there he went to a Pretoria flower shop where he stabbed a man, Peter Ntona-Maleka (54), to death, who tried to stop him from robbing the shop.

It was believed that the assailant had also been hurt and the police followed his blood trail to a nearby church.

There, he allegedly raped a woman and held her hostage, but when the police arrived at the scene she managed to escape, police spokesperson Warrant Officer Annabel Middelton told Beeld.

Shots were fired and the man was hit in the hand and head.

He was currently under police guard in hospital.

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