Money muti harvesting increases
2010-02-08 20:11
Nelspruit - Nearly 1 000 families nationwide reported that the corpses of their dead relatives had been harvested for muti before burial last year.
The cases of missing body parts were reported to the Traditional Healers Organisation (THO), but there is no clear record as to whether police charged or arrested anyone.
"About 901 bodies had some parts missing, especially breasts and genitals," said national co-ordinator of the THO, Phephisile Maseko, on Monday. "The biggest question is, who are these people who purchase the parts? And, if we expose them, what systems are there to protect us?"
She expressed concern that in "most cases" police were involved in protecting those, often wealthy businessmen, who buy human body parts in the belief that it will boost their businesses.
Maseko said the elderly and children were particularly vulnerable to muti killings.
"People believe that if you use the genitals or hands of an old person or a child for muti, your business will make lots of money, but it's not true," she said.
She said traditional healers who used body parts to make muti were not true healers, but "heartless witches".
Profession at stake
"How could a healer use body parts or remove somebody's body parts while the person is still alive? That means you are a witch, not a healer," she said.
"I am worried that our name is being used in the wrong way and our profession is at stake because every time such cases happen, people look at us [as if we're to blame]. We want to protect our profession," she said.
She said the issue was raised at a meeting about ritual murders with the Women, Children and Persons with Disabilities Minister Noluthando Mayende-Sibiya, in Pretoria last week.
Maseko said THO is ready to help the government try stop muti murders and expose the perpetrators of the human body parts trade.
She said most of the cases in which corpses were harvested for body parts, or 350 cases, were in Limpopo, followed by Mpumalanga where 210 cadavers had been mutilated.
International borders
"[Muti murders] are mostly happening in provinces that have international borders because the parts are being transported to neighbouring countries," Maseko said.
At the meeting last week, Minister Mayende-Sibiya said in a statement that while African medicine was part of South Africa's culture, this did not excuse or justify the killing of a human being to heal a person.
"We cannot be a country that lives in fear that a child, woman or man has been killed for such purposes. We have to root out this evil practice," Mayende-Sibiya said.
She said an indaba would be held in March to address muti killings. She said government would gather all available data to better understand the prevalence, patterns and trends of the cases.
"We have to ensure that these cases are recorded correctly and ensure that our people are aware of this problem and they assist us and the law enforcement agencies to address this problem."