The couple sat in their Toyota Cressida overlooking the lake at Wemmer Pan, enjoying a quiet, romantic evening. It was the kind of spot lovers went to escape the chaos of Johannesburg—peaceful, scenic, perfect for spending quality time together.
Then a man approached their car. Without warning, he opened fire.
Two shots to the head killed Elijah Chatswayo instantly. His companion, Eunice, was dragged into nearby bushes where she was raped and murdered. Their killer walked calmly away from the scene, leaving their bodies for someone else to find.
This was April 27, 1997, and it marked the beginning of what would become known as the Wemmer Pan murders. But the killer—a man named Cedric Maake—had already been terrorizing Johannesburg for months.
Before police finally caught him, he would kill at least 27 people, rape 14 women, and leave a trail of victims across the city that still haunts South Africa today.
The Man Behind the Murders
Cedric Maake was born on September 10, 1963, in South Africa. There’s very limited information about his early life because he refused to talk about his background or upbringing with investigators. What little we know comes from fragments he volunteered during police questioning.
When Cedric was 15 or 16 years old, his father died unexpectedly. At the time, he was in 10th grade—what was considered the final year of Bantu education, the substandard schooling system designed for Black South Africans under apartheid. The system was deliberately created to produce manual laborers, not professionals.
After his father’s death, Cedric was forced to drop out of school. With no education and no prospects, he moved to Johannesburg to become a plumber—one of the few career paths available to young Black men at the time.
But there was something else from Cedric’s childhood that seemed to haunt him. At age 12, he’d been sent to the mountains alone as a rite of passage from boyhood to manhood—a traditional practice in some South African cultures. He claimed he was left there for three months without food or water, and he called the experience “barbaric.”
Whether this trauma contributed to what he would become is impossible to say. But by the time he was caught, Cedric Maake would be responsible for one of the most brutal killing sprees in South African history.
From Plumber to Business Owner to Criminal
Despite his lack of formal education, Cedric Maake was intelligent and ambitious. He hated working for someone else, so he opened his own plumbing company and worked for himself. By all accounts, he was successful at it.
He married, had four children, and brought his family from Limpopo Province to live with him in Johannesburg, specifically in the suburb of La Rochelle. To outsiders, he looked like a hardworking family man building a legitimate life.
But in late 1996, something changed.
Maybe he met bad company that convinced him that crime paid better than honest work. Maybe financial pressures became too much. Whatever the reason, Cedric Maake decided to take a dark turn that would destroy countless lives—including his own.
The Hammer Attacks Begin
On December 28, 1996, a man named Antonio Alfonso was working at Hill Gardens cafe in Rosettenville when Cedric Maake walked in and attacked him with a hammer. He bludgeoned Antonio repeatedly on the head. When Antonio collapsed, Maake went straight to the cash register and stole 500 rand.
Antonio survived, but barely.
Three days later, Cedric welcomed the new year with money stolen through violence.
This became his pattern: Walk into small shops, usually run by elderly men. Pretend to be a customer. Wait until they turn their back. Then attack with a hammer, steal their money, and disappear.
On January 6, 1997, he attacked 78-year-old tailor Khaji, bludgeoning him with a hammer after pretending to buy pants. Khaji survived.
Three days later, he attacked Kenny Chang at a butchery. Kenny survived.
On January 17, he attacked a man at Valet Brothers tailors in Doornfontein. The victim suffered severe skull injuries and brain damage but survived.
On January 22, he attacked Abdul Babula with a hammer, stealing 600 rand. Abdul survived.
On January 23, he murdered Mr. Patel in his Fordsburg shop. This was Cedric’s first confirmed murder. Mr. Patel bled out on his shop floor while Cedric emptied the cash register.
The attacks continued through February and March—always small shop owners, always attacked from behind with a hammer, always elderly men who couldn’t fight back.
But the hammer attacks were just the beginning.
The Wemmer Pan Murders
In April 1997, Cedric Maake changed his method. He’d grown bored with attacking shop owners. He wanted something different, something that gave him more power and control.
He found it at Wemmer Pan, a popular recreational area with a lake where couples went for romantic evenings. It was known as a “lovers’ corner”—peaceful, scenic, and tragically isolated.
On April 27, 1997, Cedric approached Elijah Chatswayo and Eunice Gossapanzi in their parked car. He shot Elijah twice in the head, then dragged Eunice into the bushes, where he raped and murdered her.
That same day, he found another woman nearby, dragged her into the bushes, raped her, and beat her to death with a rock. She was never identified.
Within 24 hours, Cedric Maake had killed three people. And he was just getting started.
A New Hunting Ground
For the next several months, Wemmer Pan became Cedric’s personal hunting ground. He targeted couples—shooting the men, raping and killing the women. Sometimes he forced couples to have sex while he watched before robbing and murdering them.
In July 1997, he killed 49-year-old Ralph and 42-year-old Christina Machicho. They were sitting on the grass, admiring the lake, when Cedric shot Ralph twice in the back of the head. Christina was dragged into the bushes, raped, and murdered.
On July 11, Jerry Naidu and his girlfriend Charlotte Love were sitting in Jerry’s car when Cedric approached and asked for help with his cell phone. When Jerry rolled down the window to help, Cedric shot him in the stomach and chest. He dragged Charlotte into the bushes and raped her twice.
But then something strange happened. After raping her, Cedric walked Charlotte to the street and helped her flag down a taxi. When the taxi arrived, Charlotte slammed the door and screamed at the driver to speed away, leaving Cedric standing alone on the roadside.
Charlotte survived. She would be one of the few.
The next day, Cedric killed Moses and raped his girlfriend, giving her taxi money afterward. Then he looked her in the eyes and asked: “Are you going to Moses’s funeral this weekend?”
The psychological cruelty was almost worse than the physical violence.
Expanding His Terror
Cedric didn’t just stick to Wemmer Pan. He also started attacking taxi drivers—one of the most feared groups in South African society. He’d take a taxi, make sure he was the last passenger, then pull a gun and shoot the driver before robbing them.
Miraculously, several drivers survived his attacks.
He also began targeting random people walking down the street. On June 16, 1997—Youth Day, a public holiday in South Africa—he attacked jogger Dorad Jala along the Soweto Highway. He dragged her into the bushes, raped her, and shot her dead.
On June 21, he started a conversation with a man named Santi and two women, then suddenly pulled out his gun and shot Santi dead for no reason. The women fled. Cedric robbed Santi’s body and walked away.
The Deadliest Day
On July 18, 1997, Cedric Maake committed five murders in a single day.
Victims 1 and 2: Samuel Malema (25) and his girlfriend, Catherine, were walking along Main Reef Road when Cedric demanded Samuel’s wallet. Samuel fought back. Cedric shot him three times in the head, then shot Catherine in the knee to prevent her from running. He raped her twice.
Victims 3 and 4: David Duplessi and his girlfriend, Sarah, were on Princess Avenue in Clermont. Cedric shot David dead, dragged Sarah into the bushes, raped her, and killed her.
Victim 5: Martin Stander (19) was a DJ who’d just left a nightclub with 15-year-old Lani. They stopped to smoke before dropping Lani home. Cedric opened fire, killing Martin instantly, then raped and murdered Lani.
She was his youngest victim.
Why Couldn’t the Police Stop Him?
By mid-1997, the Indian and Muslim communities in Johannesburg were terrified. Tailors and shop owners were being attacked with hammers. Couples at Wemmer Pan were being murdered. The attacks had been going on for months.
Where were the police?
Captain Pete Bellfeld—South Africa’s top cop with a 99% solve rate—was assigned to the case. He proposed installing surveillance cameras in tailor shops and monitoring Wemmer Pan.
But the community was so frustrated with the lack of progress that they went to the media. Once the story broke publicly, Cedric knew police were watching. He changed his methods.
He started doing home invasions instead, using knives rather than hammers. On November 2, 1997, he stabbed Jose Caress to death and stole his television and VCR. On November 7, he killed Arthur McIntyre with a hammer and stole his TV, radio, and a .32 caliber revolver.
Then, feeling confident that police weren’t close to catching him, he went back to the hammer attacks on tailors.
The Break in the Case
Pete Bellfeld went back to Wemmer Pan multiple times, re-examining crime scenes. During one visit, he found a piece of tissue and sent it for DNA testing.
He interviewed every rape survivor, asking them to describe their attacker and provide DNA samples through saliva or blood. The survivors all described the same man: small, thin, strong, aggressive. After raping them, he would chase them away while swearing at them in Afrikaans. Some said he bragged about the murders he’d committed.
Bellfeld even went to Wemmer Pan with a female officer and parked in a car overlooking the lake, hoping to lure Cedric out. But when it got dark, he called off the surveillance to protect his team.
On December 21, 1997, Bellfeld got the call he’d been waiting for. A member of the public reported a suspicious man lurking around a local hotel. The man never booked a room or ate there—he was just always around. The caller described him as small, neatly dressed, wearing green pants and a grey top.
The caller suspected the man was dating a hotel employee named Angelina, who worked at a nearby dog parlor.
On December 23, 1997, Bellfeld’s team followed Angelina. At 11:00 a.m., she boarded a taxi to Jeppe. She got off at the corner of Page and Bree Street.
Cedric Maake was there waiting for her.
The Arrest and Confession
Cedric was taken into custody, but he refused to talk. That was his right.
Police drew blood samples and sent them to the DNA lab, which worked around the clock—even on Christmas Day. The DNA matched the tissue found at Wemmer Pan.
They had their killer.
But Cedric wasn’t done making noise. In the holding cells, he screamed for hours, threw feces at officers, and acted like a madman. Bellfeld tried everything to calm him down, even offering him a cigarette.
Cedric took the cigarette, looked at Bellfeld, and said: “Man, I don’t smoke.” Then he crushed it and threw it at the detective.
Bellfeld discovered that Cedric was extremely close to his mother, the only person he would listen to. Bellfeld promised Cedric that if he cooperated, his mother could visit him. The plan worked.
When confronted with DNA evidence, Cedric smiled and confessed to being the Wemmer Pan killer.
He took the police to every crime scene, showing them exactly how he’d committed each murder. He showed them the abandoned mine shaft where he’d hidden his gun. When Bellfeld went to retrieve the weapon, Cedric—still in shackles—moved so fast toward the gun that Bellfeld had to tackle him. If Cedric had reached that gun first, everyone there would have died.
The Hammer Connection
While investigating Cedric’s background, Bellfeld found a pawn shop receipt with the name Patrick Moguena—one of Cedric’s aliases. The receipt was for a bicycle that belonged to a murder victim.
That’s when it clicked: The Wemmer Pan killer and the hammer man were the same person.
When Bellfeld asked Cedric why he’d targeted tailors specifically, his answer was chilling. A tailor had once ruined his shirt and didn’t apologize. Cedric loved clothes and loved looking at himself in the mirror. That disrespect from one tailor meant all tailors had to die.
Cedric wasn’t killing out of remorse or necessity. He was boasting. He was proud of getting away with it for so long.
The Victims and The Verdict
In total, Cedric Maake faced 133 charges. His trial began in April 1998 and lasted 355 days. Rape survivors testified. Assault victims with brain damage were asked leading questions because they couldn’t remember what happened.
On March 16, 2000, Cedric Maake was found guilty of:
- 27 counts of murder
- 26 counts of attempted murder
- 41 counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances
- 14 counts of rape
- 1 count of assault with grievous bodily harm
- 3 counts of illegal possession of a firearm
- 1 count of illegal possession of ammunition
He was sentenced to 1,885 years in prison, plus three months for the single bullet found in his pocket.
Pete Bellfeld described Cedric Maake as “the worst of the worst.”
Today, Cedric Maake is serving his sentence at C-Max Prison in Pretoria—the same facility where Moses Sithole, another notorious South African serial killer, is imprisoned.
The Unanswered Questions
Why did Cedric Maake do it? There’s no single answer.
He claimed to hate his father for leaving the family in poverty after his death. His father’s first wife and family had mistreated Cedric’s mother and ensured she inherited nothing. Cedric and his mother were left destitute, sometimes going to bed hungry.
During the investigation, Bellfeld discovered that Cedric’s wife had been unfaithful early in their marriage—at Wemmer Pan. Some survivors said Cedric would chase them while swearing and demeaning them. Was he punishing his wife through these attacks? Was he killing the couples who reminded him of her betrayal?
Or was it something darker—a man who discovered he enjoyed killing and found convenient excuses to keep doing it?
Pete Bellfeld believed Cedric had no remorse. He wasn’t confessing out of guilt. He was bragging.
The Legacy of Terror
The Wemmer Pan murders changed Johannesburg forever. What had once been a peaceful spot for couples became synonymous with death and violence. Even today, the name carries weight.
Cedric Maake’s case highlighted the challenges South African police faced in the years after apartheid ended. The police force was being restructured, resources were limited, and crimes were increasing. The death penalty had been declared unconstitutional, removing one of the harshest deterrents.
But more than that, it showed how a seemingly trustworthy man—intelligent, well-dressed, hardworking—could hide unspeakable evil. His employers praised him. His neighbors trusted him. Even Pete Bellfeld admitted Cedric looked like someone you’d hire without question.
Behind that trustworthy face was one of South Africa’s most prolific serial killers.
If you’re interested in more cases about South African serial killers, check out these related articles:
What aspect of Cedric Maake’s crimes disturbs you most—the brutality, the length of time he evaded capture, or his complete lack of remorse? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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