The body of little Mulweli Nemadandila (7) of Manamani Village is still lying in the mortuary, almost a month after he was discovered floating in the Dzondo River on Saturday, 25 February. Villagers strongly believe that the young boy was murdered for muti and dumped into the river, as some of his body parts were missing. The situation becomes increasingly more tense as villagers have uncompromisingly rejected the findings of the state pathologist, who said that fish had eaten away the missing body parts.

The MEC for Safety, Security and Liaison, Machwene Semanya, visited the village recently, in a bid to calm down the villagers. She promised that the little boy’s case would be removed from the local police and handed over to the provincial investigative team for expert investigation. In a report prepared by the local clergy, led by Dean Alunamutwe Rannditsheni and the village leadership, which was handed over to the National Prosecution Authority (NPA) last week, it is indicated that the boy’s death was clearly an act of ritual murder as both his upper and lower lips had been removed. The report also indicated that the edges of the little boy’s eyes had been cut off and his testicles had been removed with a sharp object. It further indicated that a number of witnesses were ready to give evidence, but they have now lost hope with the police since they are not cooperating with the witnesses.

“The deceased was wearing a T-shirt and a half long trouser at the time of his discovery. The T-shirt and the trouser were held together with a steel nappy lightener (haka) which is unknown to his mother and members of the family. While in the water, the deceased’s hands were tied with a fish line attached to a small reed, smeared with a black substance. When the body was removed from the water, it was extremely colder than the temperature of the water itself, bringing the suspicion that after removal of the body parts, the dead boy was placed in a cold storage before dumped into the river. A community leader who was observing the rejected post-mortem realized that there was no water in the boy’s lungs or stomach and on the left of his head, just above the ear, there were clods of blood, bringing an impression that the boy was hit by a hard object, which clearly rules out drowning as the cause of death,” reads part of the report.

The report also went further and indicated that there are known suspects who have also vowed to tell the truth about the little boy’s murder, but police are dragging their feet in arresting them.

The report continued: “There had been similar incidents in the village in the past and none of the drowning victims ever had any part of the body missing while being recovered from the water except the similar incident that occurred in September, 2003, where a young boy, Tshifhiwa Matakala, was murdered and thrown into the water, allegedly by the same suspect. The most serious concern of the community is that the main suspect is not arrested as in the case of 2003…”

The report further said there are more than 30 ritual murder cases that have not been resolved in the Vhembe District, due to police inefficiency, and it urged the NPA to intervene to have the perpetrators brought to book.

Meanwhile, villagers have collected R10 per household to hire a private pathologist to conduct a post-mortem since they suspect that the results of the state pathologist were tampered with. A family member, Thomas Ramuedi, said no one knows when the boy will be buried as the post mortem has not been conducted yet.

Mulweli’s grieving mother, Meriam, said she could not understand why the people who murdered her son have not been arrested. “My child suffered when he was alive and his body is still lying in the mortuary. Where will it all end? The boy needs to be buried, but it will not be easy because there are some people who are not doing their jobs.”

Supt Ailwei Mushavhanamadi of the Vhembe police says the case is still under investigation and police are waiting for the report from the independent pathologist. “An inquest docket has been opened and our investigations will depend on the results of the awaited results of the independent pathologist…”