Eddie Koch
RITUAL murder and witchcraft cases are on the increase in rural and urban townships of the Transvaal. In the latest incident, a local radio station reports that a young woman was abducted by a gang of ”cannibals”, kept as a sex-slave in an underground cavern near Katlehong and forced to eat the body parts of victims who were allegedly murdered for muti purposes.
Although the teenager is mentally disturbed, a psychologist who interviewed her says the allegations are credible because the victim does not have the cognitive capacity to have concocted the account. East Rand police have launched an intensive investigation.
But there have been a rash of recent cases indicating that ritual murders and black magic practises are on the increase. In the township of Sheshego near Pietersburg two young mothers were arrested for murdering their months-old babies and removing some of their organs. Late last year a Johannesburg policeman was arrested for trading in human body parts that had been obtained from a local mortuary.
Cases of sorcery and of people being burned alive after being accused of being witches have recently swept through parts of the Eastern and Northern Transvaal. At least 70 people have died in gruesome witch-hunts conducted mainly by gangs of youths in these townships since the April elections last year.