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'Muti killing' sparks violence
15/02/2008 21:28 - (SA)
Durban - Police used force including stun grenades to prevent a house near Durban from being torched on Friday by hundreds of people angered by rumours of witchcraft killings.
Superintendent Vincent Mdunge said the confrontation at the rural settlement of Fredville in Inchanga on Durban's outskirts between police and the 800-strong crowd followed the murder of a nine-year-old girl.
Mdunge said local residents wanted to burn down the house, because they believed that Tuesday's abduction and killing of the girl had been orchestrated by the family living in the house.
The nine-year-old girl and her four-year-old brother had gone to a local tuckshop to buy sweets, but neither returned. A search was launched by the family before the young boy was returned to the house later by "three unknown men".
When the boy was questioned, he told the family that the girl had been murdered. Her body was found on Thursday afternoon. One of her eyes had been gouged out.
Mdunge said he could not confirm reports that her genitals had been cut off.
Restoring order
"It is purely speculation at this stage that this is a muti killing."
There was also no proof that the family occupying the house had anything to do with the disappearance and killing of the girl, Mdunge said.
Mdunge said the SAPS well as officers from the eThekwini metro police were involved in restoring order and KwaZulu-Natal social welfare MEC Meshak Radebe had visited the area in a bid to diffuse tensions.
"These are only allegations. I think it is jealousy. These people (from the house) are quite well off and it seems like others are saying that they must have made their money from selling body parts," Radebe said.
Several police vehicles were stoned in the clash with the angry crowd as was a car belonging to a local radio station, Gagasi 99.5FM.
Gagasi FM journalist Shawa Biyela said he had seen one person, whom he believed to be a local community leader, being rushed off to hospital after being struck by a stone.
'It was terrible'
"The Dlamini family (who live in the house) are trying to pack their things and leave, but they want police to look after the house," he said, speaking by phone from Fredville.
"It was terrible. They surrounded the house. They threw stones at the house. The windows are broken and there are stones everywhere. They are large stones.
"They were very angry and then they started throwing stones at the police and journalists," he said.
His car was damaged in the incident.
The crowd had dispersed by late afternoon with small groups of people milling around in the vicinity of the house, Biyela said.
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