A young member of the M’tititi community in Malamulele, who is the main suspect in a spate of alleged poisonings, has been expelled from the village to protect him from the anger of fellow villagers.

Local traditional leader, Chief Lombard M´tititi, said sending the suspect away from the village was the only reasonable solution as the community was angered by his presence in the village. "People are capable of doing anything and you never know what they might do to him. I thought it was advisable for him to leave the area," he said. He said the decision came about after careful considerations both on the side of the community and the alleged culprit. "It is unfortunate that we have to take decisions that sometimes do not auger well to other parties, but we are forced to do this in the interest of the community," he said.

The community held a meeting last weekend in which Chief M’tititi wanted to know the truth, but it was called off when it was feared that it would not end peacefully, as the people were angry. A local young man, whose name is known to Mirror, was fingered as the man behind the poisoning of people in the area and he was asked to explain his side of the matter. This was not done, as local youths became rowdy, forcing the leadership to call the meeting off for fear that things might get out of hand. Another meeting was called and it was decided that he should leave the area as a matter of urgency as the community wants nothing to do with him.

Some of the people who experienced what appeared to be food poisoning in the recent days included Sibongile Maluleke, a single mother of two. Another victim was Solomon Ndove. He said the suspect gave him a jug of beer at a local beer garden and left. "I then realised that the colour had changed and other people advised me against drinking it. When the suspect was confronted about it the following day, he denied having given me the beer," he said.

The 35-year-old Sibongile said: "I had left some mealie meal to dry in the kitchen and when I came back to take it to cook, I was surprised to find it had changed its colour. When I put it into the water, the water changed instantly." She reported the matter to the local civic association and to the headman. The foodstuff was later taken to the clinic where it was ascertained it had been poisoned.

The man, who is said to have cried after the death of a teacher and confided to friends that the poison had been meant for someone else, denied this when he talked to Mirror. The man, only known as Ace, denies all accusations leveled against him. He said all that was said about him were pure lies as he never uses muti to bewitch others but only for his own ailments. "There are people out there waging a war against the good name of our family," he said. He said he failed to understand where the rumour emanated from and for what reason. "I am a friend to all people, and I don’t even know what wrong have I done to the community to deserve this. I am lost and I do not even know what to do," he said sadly.