Shocking ritual murder evidence was revealed when the community of Vhembe opened their hearts to the Limpopo Legislature’s Public Participation Unit at the Tshixwadza Sports field in the Mutale Municipal Area, on Saturday.

Hundreds of people attended the highly charged event and participants included members of the Limpopo Legislature, traditional leaders, traditional healers, the business community, religious leaders and various community development structures.

Several ritual murder cases have been reported in the Mutale area since the beginning of the year. A few convictions have been made, and some resulted in life sentences passed at the Thohoyandou High Court recently. The chairperson of the portfolio committee on safety and security, Mr Justice Pitso, says the legislature has decided on the public hearings after hearing of police bungling in cases, witnesses being intimidated or not coming through, courts letting off suspects and many other allegations.

Amongst other things during the hearing, community members expressed dissatisfaction about the law which stipulates that if a person is found in possession of human tissue, he/she is liable to six months’ imprisonment or a penalty of R2 000. “The law must be reviewed because it encourages people to commit ritual murder. The person who is found with human tissues must also get a heavy sentence, because he collaborates with ritual murderers. We plead with you to look at that law before we all succumb to ritual murder,” said one of the angry community members.

Unresolved cases

Some of the shocking evidence and unresolved alleged ritual murder cases heard by the Participation Unit include those of:

* Ndivhuwo Mbedzi of Tshidzini village - in 2003, she was found hanging from a tree with her left hand and leg missing. Police allegedly ignored an eyewitness who came forward to explain how the ritual murder was conducted in his presence. No one has been arrested so far.

* Rosinah Rstahibvumo, also of Tshidzini village - her mutilated body without a hand and a leg was discovered last year and no one has been arrested.

* Solomon Rammbofheni and Ndidzulafhi Rasalanavho, both of Makonde village, died mysteriously and the community wants their deaths to be investigated.

* Eight-months-pregnant Maria Munyai of Tshivhilidulu was butchered to death and no arrest has been made.

* An old lady, only known as Mwamasenga, was found dead at Dopeni with missing body parts.

* A woman went missing at Luheni village and she was later found dead at the local mountain with missing body parts.

The Task Team

Community members also asked the legislature to look at the evidence of one of the sentenced traditional healers who mentioned other compliances in lower courts, but they were never arrested.

“We are also not satisfied by the task team appointed to look at ritual murders in Vhembe because it was imposed on us. How can you tell people to investigate themselves because these people are local citizens? We need people from afar to come and take over from this task team,” said one of the participants. The participants also blamed some of the police officers for inefficiency and bribery, which makes ritual murder a common practice in Vhembe.

The chairperson of the portfolio committee on safety and security, Mr Justice Pitso, said after the hearing: “We waited a bit to assess the situation, and we believe the ground is ripe enough for us to hear what is actually going on. This is true reflection of what is going on in our communities and we will cooperate with different stakeholders to bring peace in our community. As law makers, we will look at the deliberations and findings to make recommendations to the legislature, which will then instruct the executive to implement them.”