It was murder! This is the finding of the second post mortem conducted by a private pathologist on the cause of death of Mulweli Nemadandila (7) of Manamani Village. The findings were made public last Thursday. Little Mulweli’s body was found floating in a Manamani tributary on 25 February. Villagers strongly believed that the victim had been murdered for muti as some of his body parts, including eyebrows, both lips and testicles, were missing. The Thohoyandou police, however, opened an inquest docket following the little boy’s death and no arrest was made. The first autopsy, conducted by a state pathologist at Tshilidzini Hospital on March 2, gave no specific anatomical cause of death, but the possibility of death due to drowning was not ruled out. Angry villagers rejected the autopsy, as they claim it had been tampered with. As a result, the community collected R10 per household to hire a private pathologist to perform another post-mortem. The second post-mortem, conducted in Pretoria, indicated that the little boy had indeed been murdered. It refuted drowning as the cause of death and indicated that the boy was murdered before being thrown into the water, as he had injuries to his forehead, back and lower limbs. The little boy’s body lay in the cold mortuary for the whole month until villagers decided to bury him on Sunday, following the latest autopsy results. “We have decided to go further with the funeral because the truth has finally come out. It is no longer a secret because everyone now knows that Mulweli was murdered. It is long that we have been indicating that the little boy was murdered for muti, but police inefficiency dragged out this entire situation. There are known suspects who have not been arrested and villagers have given information to the police but the murderers are still walking free,” said Mr Nthambeleni Mpilo, Sanco deputy chaiperson of Manamani village. Mpilo said the villagers rejected the state autopsy, because police were not cooperating with them. “We gave them everything needed in the evidence but they were not willing to arrest the known suspects. One community member volunteered to explain what he knows about the murder, provided he turned into a state witness, but police are still dragging their feet. That is why we decided to take matters upon ourselves so that we might know the exact cause of death before we rush to bury our beloved little boy.” Limpopo’s MEC for Safety, Security and Liaison, Machwene Semenya, visited the village earlier this month, in a bid to calm down the tense situation. Supt Ailwei Mushavhanamadi of the Vhembe police said his office had not received the second autopsy at the time of going to press. He said the police would resume investigations as soon as they received the information. “An inquest will be conducted after we have received the latest autopsy report. Both parties concerned in the first and second autopsy will have to give evidence before we resume our investigations.” Mulweli was finally laid to rest during an emotional funeral attended by thousands, at Manamani village, outside Thohoyandou, on Sunday. Emotional speakers during the funeral condemned the heartless inhuman perpetrators who killed the innocent little boy for their own selfish reasons. Family representative Nkhanedzeni Nemadandila said although the family accepted what had happened, it would never be easy to forget as their son died a brutal death. “We are confused, weak and frustrated by what happened. We will always remember our boy and we will never keep quiet until the murderers of our son are arrested and charged. They need to rot in jail because what they did is inhuman and disrespectful to human life. No one will ever become rich by using human body parts.” Mr Nkhumeleni Tshivhenga, the Principal at Manamani Primary School where Mulweli had been a Grade 2 learner, said he had been expecting a lot from Mulweli, but his sudden death brought confusion in the school. “Although he came from a poor family, he was very intelligent and it was clear that he was going to change his family’s poor background for better, when he grew up. The kids are still traumatised by what happened and it has also affected the learning process at our school. As a school, we are deeply hurt because we know we have lost a member of our big family, whose future looked so bright and promising.” The Executive Mayor of Vhembe District Municipality, Ms Irene Mutsil,a said the people who murdered the young boy thought they would go with it because Mulweli comes from a poor family. “Arali vha tshi toda u vhona maanda a Mudzimu, kha vha levhele tshisiwana (If you want to see the power of God, provoke the poor). People have disregarded humanity and as leaders, we are very much concerned by what happened to this little boy. We thank the power of unity displayed by the villagers until they became satisfied on what happened to the little boy. I urge you to be patient and leave everything in the hands of the justice system until the matter is finalized. We will never keep quite when the kids, our future leaders, are strangled innocently on a daily basis. We are also feeling the same pain with the Nemadandila family and the whole community of Manamani because Mulweli’s life is a wonderful gift from God.” she said. The Head of Department in the Limpopo Department of Safety, Security and Liaison, Makgothi Thobakgale, says the department cannot just sit and watch as crime statistics go up on a daily basis. “Our job is to make sure that the police are doing their job properly and we will try our utmost to make sure that no stone is left unturned in the case of Mulweli Nemadandila. Who will be our leaders in future if all the kids end up where Mulweli is? It is important to develop a safe environment for our kids because they are our future leadership investments. As a department, we are not happy by what is happening, but together with the community, we can easily win this war against crime, especially ritual murder and women and child abuse.” Dean Alunamutwe Rannditsheni of the South African Council of Churches (SACC) said clergymen are seriously concerned about the more than 40 unresolved cases of ritual murder in Vhembe. Anger, frustration, confusion and disappointment could be read on the faces of the mourners as Pastor Nthatheni Magoma of the Charis Missionary Church conducted a sermon while the coffin of the little boy was lowered to his final resting place at Manamani graveyard. * Mulweli’s funeral was made possible through the generosity of Mkhari Funerals, Mathari Funeral Undertakers, Dr. Sylvester Hlati, Pops Restaurant and Catering and businessman Lazarus Mathivha.