Three people, including two youths aged 16 and 15, briefly appeared in the Mhlala Magistrate’s Court last Friday for vandalizing a grave. The incident relating to the case took place at the Rolle Trust graveyard in the Mhala area last Thursday morning.

Supt Moatshe Ngoepe, the spokesperson for the police in the Mopani area, said that the police had received information that there were people who were vandalising a grave on the day of the incident. They quickly rushed to the scene.

On arrival at the graveyard, the police found that two youths, whose identity cannot be revealed because of their age, and a 33-year-old man, Zachariah Tivani, were standing next to the exhumed body of a woman. According to the police statement, the exhumed body was buried in February this year.

The statement further indicates that the suspects were engaged in a serious prayer when the police arrived.

During an interview with the police, the suspects allegedly indicated that they were acting on the advice of a certain spiritual healer. They told the police that the healer had advised them to go and exhume the woman’s body and pray for three hours next to the body. That, according to the suspects, would make the dead woman come back to life again.

The suspects were arrested on the spot. The body was reburied by members of the local civic structures and family members later that afternoon. The suspects were not asked to plead when they appeared in court last Friday. They will be in custody until they appear in the same court again next Wednesday, December 27.