The Shetlele family is shocked and very concerned about the death of a family member, Mr Norman Shetlele, whose lifeless body was found in the bush at Vhutuwangadzebu Mpheni village near Elim in the Waterfall area last Monday.

According to the 40-year-old Norman Shetlele’s sister, Agnes Shetlele, the family suspect that her brother had been the victim of a ritual murder. “My brother went missing on Friday, January 2. We opened a missing person file at the police, but nothing happened. We were only later informed that he had been found dead in the bushes near Mpheni,” she said.
 
She added that community members seemed to have information concerning the death of her brother, but they are afraid to reveal the names of the people who were with her brother the day he went missing. Agnes further revealed that when her brother’s body was recovered, some of his body parts were missing. The missing parts included the lips, tongue, ears, eyes and a part of his chin.
 
“What is surprising to us, is the fact that the post mortem results indicated that the cause of the death was not known, because the body had already decomposed. We are, however, quite sure that the body parts were missing,” she complained.
 
Several similar cases of ritual murders have been reported in the Vhembe District for quite some time now, but nothing much has been done.
 
According to Agnes, her brother Norman is the second family member to be killed in the past few years. His father’s lifeless body was recovered along the N1 near Louis Trichardt in 2002. “What is worrying us as a family is that my father’s case was never fully investigated and the Makhado police closed the case. We tried to contact the area commissioner, but he told us that he needed eyewitnesses, whereas the police are refusing to reveal the name of the person who alerted them about my father’s body along the N1,” said Agnes.
 
The Shetlele family wants the two cases to be investigated together, as they believe the same people who killed his father in 2002 are the ones who killed Norman. “What have we, the Shetlele family, done to deserve these killings? If there is a problem, I believe we can solve it,” Agnes said.
She further added: “I want to know what people want to do with the body parts they cut from my family members, whether is for muti. This is cruel and affecting everybody in the family”
 
The spokesman for the Waterfall police, Insp Kedebone Mabatha, confirmed the death of Mr Norman Shetlele. Mabatha added that the deceased’s lifeless body had indeed been recovered in the bush at Vhutuwangadzebu Mpheni village next to Elim in the Waterfall area of the Makhado Municipality. “A murder case has been opened and the police are still continuing with investigations,” he said.
 
According to Mabatha, the Shetlele family had opened a missing person’s file on January 2 this year. “Then, after a long search, the police were able to recover the body of Mr Norman Shetlele,” he said. Asked if any parts had been missing from the body, he declined to comment, saying that he was not sure about it.
 
A document directed to the Makhado police by the Divisional Commissioner of Detective Services at the Head Office in Pretoria, dated 2007/07/14, which is in Mirror’s possession, indicates that “This office wishes to inform you that the case will be reopened and that departmental steps will be instituted against the investigating officer. Progress will be reported in due course.”
 
According to the Shetlele family, the Makhado SAPS seems to be ignoring the directive from the national office. Meanwhile, the Shetlele family is offering a reward of R40 000 to anyone who can come up with information concerning the cases and shed more light on what really happened the respective days when Norman and his father were killed.
 
Meanwhile, the spokesperson for the Makhado police, Cap Maano Sadiki, confirmed that the murder case of Agnes Shetlele’s father had been dropped due to lack of evidence.
 
Anyone with information is advised to contact Agnes Shetlele at 072 2710 942 or Lybon Shetlele at 079 303 4663.