A prominent Limpopo bishop of the Holiness Apostolic Church briefly appeared in the Thohoyandou Magistrate’s Court last week. He was charged with ritual murder, attempted murder and robbery, following an incident that took place at Makonde-Shadani on 23 October last year. He was arrested at his home two weeks ago, following an intensive investigation by the police.

Bishop Joseph Tanzwani, commonly known as Ramafamba, of Makonde village, is alleged to have taken part in the ritual murder case of a promising soccer star, the late Maanda Sendedza, whose private parts and tongue were sliced off. His girlfriend, Nyelisani Sidimela, was left helplessly beside his body and her lips were removed. Sendedza’s trousers and cell phone were missing when he was discovered.

Ramafamba has joined his two accused in the same case, Mukondeleli Phosha (54) and Shumani Dzebu (31), both traditional healers, who were arrested in November last year. Phosha and Dzebu were allegedly found in possession of Maanda Sendedza’s private parts, tongue, cell phone and trousers. They were also found in possession of Nyelisani Sidimela’s removed lips. Nyelisani is presently receiving treatment at a Gauteng hospital.

A large crowd gathered at the court to have a close look at the man of the cloth, who is in his early seventies, during his appearance in court. The case was postponed to May 3 for a bail application. He will be appearing together with Phosha and Dzebu. Phosha and Dzebu have applied unsuccessfully for bail several times in the same court.

The same court nearly turned into a circus when Dzebu and Phosha appeared for the same case two weeks ago, barely three days before the bishop was arrested. Dzebu refused to continue with the court proceedings, unless three more people, with whom he claims to have committed the ritual murder, were arrested. He also handed over the names of the three people to the magistrate. Mirror is in possession of the names of the three people implicated by Dzebu.

Dean Alunamutwe Rannditsheni of the South African Council of Churches said he was shocked by the arrest of the bishop and condemned his behaviour, if it is true that he engaged himself in a ritual murder. “He is definitely not one of us, because our mission is to save life, not to kill people for muti. We respect men of the cloth and believe that they should lead by example, but we are speechless about this matter. If he is found guilty, he needs to spend his entire life in jail, because there would be no more room for him in society.”