Cannibalism is described as the act of humans eating another human’s flesh or organs. This reminds me of my all-time favourite movie, Hannibal. Hannibal the cannibal.
Cannibalism has been well documented all over the world, and it’s been around since prehistoric times. Some anthropologists suggest that cannibalism was quite common in those times.
People commit the act of cannibalism for different reasons. The one that we can try to understand is starvation.
The Andes flight disaster is a good example of this. After the plane crash in the remote mountains of western Argentina, the survivors lived off the flesh of the dead passengers to survive. They survived 72 days in extreme conditions before being rescued.
Another reason for cannibalism is sexual pleasure, like in the case of Jeffrey Dahmer. Dahmer killed and dismembered 17 men, and some of his later murders included cannibalism.
Let’s see what cannibalism lurks closer to home.
In 2017, a South African traditional healer walked into a police station and stated that he was ‘tired of eating human flesh’.
Two men were sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Zanele Hlatswayo. In this case, muti was alleged to be the motivation.
An interesting fact is that cannibalism is not illegal in South Africa, but mutilating a corpse and being in possession of human tissue is.
Andrew Chimbazo suspected that Mbuyiselo Manona was sleeping with his girlfriend. He stabbed him to death and then ate his heart.
In 2001, Patrick Msane was caught eating human flesh after police received a tip-off. The body was cut up and cooked in a three-legged pot.
Stewart Wilken, aka Boetie Boer, was one of South Africa’s most unusual serial killers. He confessed to eating the nipples of some of his victims.
Prof Gérard Labuschagne stated in an article on News24 that people who eat human flesh usually have mental health problems.
They might be experiencing some sort of psychotic breakdown, which could include hallucinations.
In his experience, muti rituals normally have nothing to do with cannibalism.
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