Police and members of the community have vowed to work together and apprehend the culprit to solve the mystery murder of Portia Phaswana, who was recently found dead at Mbilwi with some of her body parts missing.

This development prevented what was a volatile situation from spilling over into violence. At a mass meeting, held at the local Mphaphuli tribal offices during the weekend, both the community and the police vowed not to leave any stone unturned until they had brought the perpetrators to book.

The area was boiling and was on the brink of an eruption after the mysterious death of the pupil, allegedly at the hands of ritual murderers. The emotional meeting comes in the wake of the disappearance of the 19-year-old girl early last month and the subsequent gruesome discovery of her partly decomposed body on Friday, October 30.

The recent murder is for some community members a premonition of the resurrection of ritual murders in the Vhembe District. Only last week, the partly decomposed body of a granny was found hanging from a branch of a tree at Makonde outside Thohoyandou, not far from where Maanda Sendedza was brutally killed some years ago. Although the police are still investigating the case, members of the community believe it was murder and not suicide.

Portia Phaswana’s body was found by community members who were on the trail of a suspected thief who had stolen some goods in one of the nearby houses. The suspect is believed to be a foreigner from Zimbabwe. The meeting nearly lost focus when everyone concentrated on the expulsion of Zimbabweans, instead of focusing on the death of the pupil.

The discovery of the body of the Grade 9 pupil at Phaswana Secondary School led many in the community to speculate that a ritual murder syndicate might be in the loose in the village. Community members started pointing fingers at certain individuals in the village. There was a lot of tension in the community, and the village was like a time bomb waiting to explode.

Fearing the resurgence of the 2000 witch hunt, community leaders called for a meeting of the whole village and invited the police to update community members on the case. During the meeting, it was agreed by all stakeholders that the girl had been murdered, but the big question that is bothering everyone is the reason for the killing and the person or persons behind it.

Mr Masala Mbovana, a family member, told the meeting that they suspected their little girl had been ritually murdered. He said he had seen the body and confirmed that the body had some parts missing. He said the girl’s nose, left breast, lips and ear were missing. “We have no doubt as a family that our lovely girl was murdered for muti, but we are now putting all in the hands of God that He will expose the murderers for all to see.”

He said they were consoled by the support they were getting from the community and were sure that the culprit would soon be behind bars, answering for his ghastly deeds.

Mbovana said he doubted very much that the post mortem results would bring any closure to the pain the family was suffering, as the doctor had allegedly told them that animals might have eaten the body, that it was in a bad state and that it was difficult to determine the cause of death.

“We are confident that the police, with the cooperation of the community and the introduction of the suggestion box, will soon get the real perpetrators and arrest them. We encourage members of the community to assist in bringing those involved to book,” he said.

Supt Mutepe of the local Thohoyandou police said they understood the situation of the community. He said the community should not feel as if they were alone in this time of grief. “The loss that the family and community suffered also affects us as police. We are all agreed that a crime has been committed and we all have one question: who killed the girl?”

“We are working around the clock, trying to unravel the mystery. We will not only wait for information from you as community, but we will apprehend the perpetrators,” he said. He encouraged the leadership to be united, saying the time was critical when people needed direction.

Sr Supt George Phaswana urged community members to assist police in their investigation, saying it was only through unity that they could catch the perpetrators. He urged community leaders to contact the head of detectives at Thohoyandou Sr Supt Mashaba at 082 451 7188, who will update them and the family on the progress of the case. He urged the community not to abuse the number and that they should direct all other cases to him at: 015 960 1094 or 082 414 7277

Limpopo police spokesperson Captain Mashudu Malelo said they had opened an inquest docket pending the outcome of a post mortem conducted on the body.