South Africa looks at ritual murders

Oct 26, 2006, 12:41 GMT

Johannesburg - At least 50 suspected cases of ritual murder have been noted in South Africa's far northern Limpopo Province, according to a report released on Thursday.

The report follows the establishment of a provincial task team into crimes of this nature and public hearings around the province, where cases of murder for ritual purposes - also referred to as 'muti murders' for the link to traditional medicine using human body parts - are widely reported.

Members of the task team interviewed relatives of suspected victims, travelled to areas where such killings had been reported and studied police files for evidence of ritual links to murders, Mogale Nchabeleng, a spokesman for Limpopo Province Premier Sello Moloto said.

Recommendations to correct the situation that had become a 'great cause for concern,' included the holding of a multi-stakeholder conference on the matter next month with participants from the education sector, churches and traditional leaders, he said.

The task team also highlighted the need to implement additional legislative measures to allow for successful prosecution in such cases and for a special police unit to lead investigations into ritual crimes.

'Our people continue living in fear,' Nchabeleng said. 'They know that anything is possible at anytime.'

Victims of ritual murder or mutilations are often dismembered while still alive and very often die agonised deaths. It is common for children to be targeted by killers searching for human organs to make up their potions and cures.

Ritual murders have been reported throughout the country.

Last year a young woman from Limpopo survived an attack in which her lips were cut off while her boyfriend died after his genitals were removed. Some weeks ago, meanwhile, a man lost his tongue in an attack reportedly also with ritual links.

Meanwhile, the overall murder rate in South Africa remains high at 18,528 cases in the year to March 2006.