Four suspects arrested after 80-year-old accused of being a ‘witch’ hacked

Four people have been arrested following a mob attack in which an 80-year-old woman was hacked with a hoe before being locked inside her home, which was set alight.

The woman had been accused of practising witchcraft before the mob allegedly attacked her on Saturday in Mbuzini, near Tonga in Mpumalanga, said police spokesperson Brigadier Leonard Hlathi.

Four people, aged between 22 and 44, have since been arrested and will possibly make their first appearance in the Tonga Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.

More arrests were imminent, Hlathi said.

Provincial police commissioner Lieutenant General Mondli Zuma strongly condemned the incident. Zuma said it was disheartening that the elderly often suffered such accusations from sections of society and strongly warned people to refrain from these actions. He called for stability in the area where the woman was murdered.