Limpopo woman nearly necklaced after muti murder accusations

A house and a car where torched by an angry community in Limpopo at the weekend, after they accused the owner of the property of killing their neighbour for muti purposes.

The incident comes shortly after a 56-year-old woman was released from the intensive care unit of Kgapane Hospital in Bolobedu, following a brutal assault over allegations that she kidnapped her neighbour and killed him for muti.

The woman, Mathukhwane Janet Malatji, popularly known as Mmatshakara in Mmantshwa in Gamatipane in the Bolobedu area, was allegedly beaten to a pulp, urinated on and spat at by her assailants.

The group allegedly forcefully removed her from her house and drove with her in the dead of the night into the woods near Mokwakwaila, where the beatings took place.

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“They tied me with ropes around a fig tree, poured petrol all over my body and put a tyre around my neck,” said Mmatshakara during an interview with The Citizen at the weekend.

“I only escaped death by a thread after those they sent to buy petrol found that the filling station had run out of petrol. Instead, they set the tyre alight and burnt my legs, while others urinated on me,” she cried.

She was later rescued by the police who received a tip-off about her kidnapping.

Ironically, the neighbour whom Mmatshakara had allegedly kidnapped and murdered came back to the village a few days later and went to the local headman, informing him that he had just been released from prison, where he was held for allegedly assaulting his father.

Last week, The Citizen reported that politicians, traditional leaders and businesspeople where often cited as perpetrators of muti murders for the purposes of strengthening their power and attaining money.

The trend is reportedly very popular in Limpopo, especially in the Vhembe and Mopani regions.

Impatient community targets murder suspect

In the latest incident, an angry community went on the rampage after a 48-year-old man, Ndishavhelafhi Pandelani from Tshakhuma, Lundani village outside Thohoyandou, was reported missing at the Levubu Police station last week.

His decomposed body was later found in the bushes a few days later, leading to police opening an inquest into his death.

The local community accused a 47-year=old man living in the area of being responsible for Pandelani’s death. They went on the rampage and torched his house and cars.

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Limpopo police spokesperson, Brigadier Motlafela Mojapelo, said the incident happened at about 18:00 on Sunday afternoon. Public Order Police were despatched to the area to quell the violence and a case of arson is being investigated.