Traffic came to a standstill in Giyani on Monday, during the combined march of a number of ANC branches: July Mawewe Branch in Sodoma, Nkuri in Greater Giyani and Ritavi in Malonga under the Makhado Municipality.
The march was in response to the alleged ritual murder of Muvhango Muvari (22) of Malonga and Thokozile Maswanganyi (20) of Nkuri. The two were murdered on December 24, and their bodies recovered not far from the Nkuri Bar Lounge. According to family members, several of their body parts were missing.
Thousands of people, who marched outside the Greater Giyani municipal offices on Monday, demanded the refusal of bail to four accused who had allegedly killed the two.
Magistrate Gordon Hlungwani remanded the four men, two from Nkuri in the Greater Giyani area and two from Malonga in the Thulamela area, in custody until February 19.
The four´s arrest and subsequent court appearance follows the death of Muvhango Muvari and Thokozile Maswanganyi. Amongst the suspects is Muvari´s halfbrother, Loderick Muvari (32). The others are Elias Mudau (53) of Malonga and Jeffrey Mtileni (33) and Patrick Ngobeni, both of Nkuri.
Mr Norman Muvari, the uncle of the deceased Muvhango Muvari, made startling allegations during the funeral of Muvhango. He said Lodewick and Muvhango went together to the bar lounge that fateful day, but only Lodewick returned. The uncle said he confronted Lodewick about the whereabouts of Muvhango, and he initially said Lodewick was asleep.
He later confessed to having killed his half brother and implicated the others.
That was after the police had been tipped off that Lodewick was a suspect.
Vhembe district executive mayor Mr Falaza Mdaka praised Norman for his bold step. He said if there were more people like him, the country would be a better place. Mdaka pleaded with people to have a mindset change and stop believing that human body parts could be used to increase business.
“Big businesses in South Africa are thriving while businesses of those who believe in using human parts have closed down,” said Mdaka. He said he agreed with those who said that muti merchants trading in human parts had to go but people should respect the laws of the land and agreed that one is innocent before being convicted by a court of law. Members of the community pleaded for his protection, saying that his revelations had earned him more enemies than friends.
The communities came in large numbers to see if the accused would be granted bail. In their first appearance last week, the communities presented a memorandum of their grievances to the MEC for Safety and Security in Limpopo, Ms Dikeledi Magadzi. The demands included the transfer of suspected corrupt policemen from Giyani and a breakthrough in unresolved murder cases in Giyani.
Bioscope Makamu, the chairperson of July Mawewe ANC branch, who is also the sub-regional secretary in Giyani, addressed the marchers and told them to provide support in a disciplined manner. “The struggle of the people is a just one to fight brutality of man against man,” said Makamu. “But we must be disciplined because any lack of discipline will undermine our good aims,” he said. He also referred to unresolved murder cases in the area.