Police tell of muti murder

GRAHAMSTOWN -- A 20-year-old Mount Frere mother, Nombovumo Mvinjana, had her facial skin removed with a scalpel and her genitalia, breasts, hands and feet hacked off, probably while still alive, police said.

Residents protested to the authorities after the eight people accused of the murder were granted bail of R1000 each when they appeared in the Mount Frere court recently.

Among the accused are Mvinjana's husband, Sithembele Maqanda, 20, and her uncle Solomzi Govuzela, 37.

The other accused are Siphokazi Sizani, 23, Siziwe Matshoba, 20, Buhlebenkosi Dyakalashe, 30, Zolile Sinyanya, 24, Anderson Zungula, 60, and Lennox Mgandela, 50.

They were not asked to plead.

The murder allegedly took place in a spaza shop owner's home in April.

Police suspect the victim's body parts were to be used as the ingredients for a diabolical get-rich-quick spell called ukutwalela ubutyebi, where fresh human remains are smeared over a person or eaten.

The investigating officer, Captain Xolani Madladlani, said the community feared that a key witness could be intimidated or even killed. The witness was apparently chased from the murder scene after being deemed untrustworthy by the attackers.

Police say Mvinjana begged the gang to let her pray, but was allegedly told: "There is no time for prayer."

Investigators believe her face was first skinned with a scalpel and then the other parts were hacked off with knives. An apple was stuffed in her mouth to stifle her screams.

Police believe she lived for over an hour before succumbing to her wounds. Madladlani said he revived the investigation into the murder when he saw it was heading for an inquest -- often the way a case was quietly swept under the carpet in his part of the world, he said.

"The case was not being done properly," he added.

When Maqanda was arrested he allegedly told police he would take them to a hole in a cliff where he had stashed the R5000 he got for his role in the murder.

But when they got there Maqanda jumped off the cliff, only to survive with bruised ribs.

Madladlani said: "The Lord works in wonderful ways."

He said he was shocked that the accused were granted bail, because they had already threatened witnesses and members of the community. He also feared the accused would abscond in rural Transkei.

The gang allegedly used two young women to lure the victim to her death on the pretext that they had a job lined up for her in Cape Town.

*Mvinjana leaves a seven-month-old baby, who is being cared for by a grandmother. -- ECN