Thousands of marchers from Mavambe staged a march to Malamulele police station on Friday to demand the arrest of a suspect in the case in which the body of a 46-year-old woman was found with vital organs missing.

Grace Chauke’s body was buried at the Mavambe cemetery on Saturday, but it was minus private parts, eyes and lips. Her body was found at a mealie field.

The community staged a house-to-house search at the neighbouring Dovheni villages and allegedly found blood stains at the house of a traditional leader at Dovheni, who is a high-raking official of a municipality. When police came to the scene, they allegedly protected the family against possible attack by the enraged community and did not arrest the suspect, claiming that they were still investigating the case.

The march was organized by the Greater Mavambe Concerned Committee. This saw members of the community from six communities under chief Mavambe taking part in the march. They marched for 5km on the main road from Mavambe to Malamulele Police Station, singing and chanting slogans.

The marchers included pupils from Shirilele and Hlaluku High Schools, as well as several primary schools in the area and there was no schooling at Mavambe on Friday.

One memorandum was submitted to the Minister of Police, Nathi Mthetwa, which demanded that the case involving the dead woman be transferred from the Malamulele police to the specialised unit of the national police. They also warned the minister that, should the police fail to arrest the suspect who is known, they would take the law into their own hands.

Community leader Balile Chauke, who read the memorandum, submitted it to Malamulele police station commander Col Abel Chauke. Another memorandum, which was sent to the Department of Local Government, which is the employer of the suspect, saying that if the suspect was not arrested and he was working during the forthcoming local government elections, the six communities would not take part in the elections. This memorandum was received by ward councilor Virginia Mtileni, who said she would submit it to her department.

“We also demand the reports of the three previous cases of ritual murder which were reported to the Thohoyandou police and are unsolved,” said Chauke. He said three unsolved murders involved that of Mzamani Mandlhazi, Phephu Baloyi and another man found murdered at Khakhanwa a few years ago. Both the police and the department of local government were given 14 days to respond.

After a heated funeral on Saturday, women at Mavambe held a meeting to discuss the issue. They say the place where the incident happened is where they usually go to relieve themselves, as well as to fetch wood.