Mob drowns granny suspected of witchcraft, then burns her body

An 83-year-old woman was assaulted, drowned to death in a water drum and her body was torched in her rondavel in the Majuba Village, outside Sterkspruit in the Eastern Cape.

Police spokesperson Brigadier Tembinkosi Kinana said the mob suspected the woman of being responsible for the death of a young man in the area who was buried on Saturday.

On Sunday, a group of men then allegedly assaulted her, held her head in a drum of water until she died and torched her rondavel.

Her 23-year-old grandchild escaped when the paraffin they poured on the grandchild’s body failed to ignite. The grandchild is under police supervision. A man has been arrested for the attack, and will appear at a local court soon.

Kinana said the man would appear in the Sterkspruit Regional Court on charges of assault with the intent to cause grievous bodily harm, arson, murder and attempted murder.

Eastern Cape police commissioner Lieutenant General Liziwe Ntshinga has deployed a team of detectives to the area to find the perpetrators.

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