There was chaos at Tshisahulu outside Thohoyandou when a crowd of angry community members marched to the home of a man they suspected of killing his father a fortnight ago and bayed for his blood.

The drama unfolded on Sunday after police failed to arrest the suspects, whom the community had claimed could be involved in the murder of their father. The angry crowd marched in search of the man who stayed with the deceased.

Earlier that day, a meeting was held between the local police and different community structures at the Makumbane royal palace. The meeting followed the mysterious disappearance and subsequent discovery of the decomposed body of Mr Joseph Musehane (58) of Tshisahulu Posaito outside Thohoyandou a fortnight ago.

The meeting was convened by the traditional leader, Chief Thivhulawi Makumbane, who is also the mayor of Thulamela municipality. The aim was to address the grievances of members of the community who felt that the police were reluctant to arrest the suspects whom they believe are members of the family.

During the meeting, the police urged community members to be patient and to wait for the results of the post mortem, which was conducted last week. The results should be available in two or three weeks´ time. This did not go down well with the angry community members and some of them began leaving before the meeting could end. They shouted their disapproval of the police´s explanation and told them to their faces that they would be forced to take the law into their own hands if the suspects were not arrested immediately.

On leaving the meeting, members of the community rushed to the home of the deceased, which is about a kilometre away from the chief´s residence. They began banging on the doors of the house after the suspected killer was spotted in one of the rooms.

The crowd, which braved heavy rains, could not gain entry and some even starting pelting the house with stones when the police arrived. The police tried to calm down the crowd by telling them that they had come to arrest the suspect, but they would not be able to do that if the crowd was still behaving the way it was doing.

Some community leaders tried to keep order while police waited for more reinforcements. The police tried to convince the alleged killer to open the door, but he wanted them to guarantee his safety. After some persuasion, he opened the door and allowed the police to escort him out of the house. They had to go back, however, as the crowd charged at them.

After getting assurances from members of the crowd that they only wanted to see him arrested and not harm him, the police used an alternative door and he was quickly whisked to a waiting van, with angry community members charging at them. The police successfully took the man away to safety.

Community members who spoke on condition of anonymity said they were dissatisfied with the explanation given by the police and wanted to act, as the police were not willing to arrest the suspects.

“The incident happened right in this house and only people living in this house are the ones who can shed light on what had happened. The police are not acting against people we know are involved in the killing. Why can´t they arrest them and keep them in jail? This is where they are failing us and if they do not act, we will be forced to take the law into our own hands,” he said.

Thohoyandou police spokesperson Captain Mashudu Malelo said they had decided to visit the community in order to explain how they operate. “We explained to the community that we are still awaiting the results of a post mortem. At this stage, we have no evidence linking anybody to the death of Musehane. We have questioned those people the community want arrested, but we have found nothing so far to connect them to the case. We are now appealing to members of the public to give us space to work on the case. We are also making an appeal to members of the community to come out with information that could shed light on this mystery,” he said.

Musehane disappeared three weeks ago. After his disappearance, community members, police and traditional leadership joined hands and launched a massive search. At first the search did not yield any positive results, but then neighbours started complaining of a stench near the house. The deceased´s sister then stumbled over the body, which was buried under a pile of bricks.

Ever since the grisly find, community members have been calling for the arrest of family members, whom they suspect may have been involved in the murder.

Musehane was laid to rest on Saturday.