AN outraged Nhlabane community is convinced a notorious murder suspect, currently out on bail relating to another murder trial, was involved in the abduction and ritual killing of a nine-year-old child.
The community believes the child’s heart was cut out for muthi.
Amahle Mbuyazi was last seen playing with friends in December last year.
According to witnesses, the children were offered money to buy snacks. It was then that Amahle was reportedly taken.
The child disappeared the day after the suspect allegedly said he needed the heart of a young child to aid in the release of his co-accused from custody.
A missing person’s case was opened at KwaMbonambi Police Station and officers with sniffer dogs scoured the surrounding area from where Amahle was abducted.
According to a community member, police dogs led officers to the gate of the suspect’s house, but Amahle was not found.
His distraught mother was later told her son had been taken to a sangoma in Makhowe Reserve near Hluhluwe, but according to her knowledge, the investigation did not follow up the clues.
The case has since run cold. The family has not heard from police officers since late December.
A local lawyer and member of the KZN Human Trafficking, Prostitution, Pornography and Brothels (HPPB) Task Team said the case could fall within the ambit of the Prevention and Combating of Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Act, which includes organ trafficking and muthi murders.
‘Trafficking normally includes the elements of recruitment, transportation and exploitation, but with children, the element of recruitment does not have to be proven,’ she said.
‘If a child is mobilised by means of threats, harm, fraud, deception, abduction or kidnapping, with the intent to exploit the child, it is defined as trafficking in persons. If there is no intention to exploit, it is not trafficking.
‘Exploitation includes sexual exploitation, forced labour or removal of body parts.’
