The continuous spate of ritual murders in Vhembe is a fact. This follows after Mashudu Munzhelele (35) of Tshifudi, Munangwa village, unexpectedly overpowered suspected ritual killers who wanted to murder him for muti purposes at the Mutshundudzi River on Monday.

On Tuesday, Munzhelele who, who is affectionately known as Superman 4x4 at the annual traditional boxing event at Tshifudi, explained to Mirror at the Vhufuli Trauma Centre how his visit to his cousin at Ha-Muraga village nearly cost him his life and some of his body parts.

“I was standing at the side of the Punda Maria road, waiting for a taxi to my village. As the taxis were not coming, I began hitchhiking in order to arrive at home earlier. A white Toyota Corolla with three men and an ageing female passenger stopped. They offered me a lift and I was sitting between the two men,” he said.

According to Superman, upon crossing the Malavuwe bridge, one of the two men sitting with him sprayed something in his face. He said that the spray made him feel dizzy, powerless confused. As the vehicle stopped half a kilometre from where he was supposed to be dropped, he saw the woman alight, and the the two men carried him out. “We crossed and passed the mealie fields into a westerly direction from Malavuwe bridge. The woman kept on following us. During that process, I could not think of fighting the two men or asking them where they were taking me,” he said.

Munzhelele said that, on arrival at the bank of the Mutshundudzi River, the two men removed his shirt and put him on the grass. While lying on his back on the ground, Superman said that he could see the woman throwing bones and speaking in a strange language he did not understand. He added that, during that time, the woman was wearing a hat made from a tsimba skin with a tail. “One of the men had already started to cut off my left hand with a knife, while his accomplice was pulling out my tongue with some pliers, at the same time inserting a knife to slice off my tongue. I felt excruciating pain and was screaming. I then kicked the man pulling my tongue out in the private parts and I heard him splashing in the water of the Mutshundudzi River.”

“His accomplice stopped cutting my hand and jumped into the river to offer assistance and that is how I manage to escape,” he said. Superman added that the woman wearing minwenda was no longer throwing bones and speaking in a strange language as she was watching in disbelief when he overpowered her accomplice. He claimed to have lost his cellphone while running away from the ritual killers. “I ran to the Malavuwe Clinic, bleeding from the wound to my hand. A nurse offered treatment, while at the same time she alerted the police who came and picked me up, but they did not go to the crime scene. After drinking water at the clinic, I started shivering as I could still hardly believe the ordeal that had happened to me,” he said.

Munzhelele said that although he does not know his attackers, he could identify them if he saw them again. “I did not take the registration of that vehicle, but I can identify it,” he claimed.

He added that the man whom he kicked in the private parts might be still reeling in serious pain and should be receiving treatment. Asked to send a message to his attackers, Superman said: “You will never kill me in a ritualistic fashion. My name is Superman 4x4. If you want some more, come back without your spray. I will fight you to the bitter end.”

Superman is no stranger to attacks; last year, three men attacked him after he was a witness in a rape case. “They only managed to stab me on my hand, but I beat the hell out of them,” he said.

Upon visiting the scene of the incident on Tuesday with the provincial organising secretary of Sanco, Mr James Delekisa and Munzhelele, Mirror discovered the victim's plastic bag at the scene. Down by the river, the footprints were still visible, while drops of blood could be seen on the grass on the river bank.

The incident happened about 300 metres away from the Malavuwe bridge where villagers were washing clothes. Even though Munzhelele tried to scream for help, the noise caused by the flow of water appeared to have made it difficult to be heard. As the police had not yet visited the crime scene on Tuesday afternoon, Delekisa stated “This is a clear indication that the police are dragging their feet in investigating this case. How are they going to collect evidence?” he asked. Delekisa said that Sanco will continue playing its role of symphatising with residents with regard to issues of ritual murder.

Mashudu Munzhelele said that he had opened a case of attempted murder at the Sibasa SAPS.