Community helped burn 'witches'

2007-09-05 21:17

Johannesburg - Police say youths, who allegedly burnt to death two 60-year old women over a witchcraft claim, are believed to have received help from the local community.

Police spokesperson Jabulani Mdletshe said they believed the double murder was pre-planned and that residents of the Manguzi area in northern KZN had assisted a group of pupils from the Manhlenga High School on Monday night to set the two women alight.

The two - Mangubane Msaba Zungu and Qibile Thabitha Thusi - were dragged from their home by a large group of youths and residents and taken to a sports field.

There they were doused with petrol and set alight.

Mdletshe said: "We're trying to identify the suspects so that we can arrest them."

Police believe this was an attempt by pupils to rid their school of evil spirits.

Mdletshe said pupils had started "acting strangely" since August 17.

"Many of the pupils started crying for no apparent reason. Some claimed they wanted meat during their crying," he said.

He said they believed that an evil spirit had possessed them.

"There was apparently a few meetings held by the pupils to discuss the matter. At one of the meetings, it was allegedly suggested that the two women may have bewitched the school," he said.

Durban's Organised Crime Unit have been roped in to help with the investigation.

The KwaZulu-Natal education department announced on Wednesday that it had sent a ward manager to the school to investigate.

- SAPA