The three men acquitted in the Mutonga ritual murder case, Meshack Mkhwanadzi (20), Meshack Malange (22) and Shadrack Malange (22), are suing the Minister of Safety and Security for “unlawful detention and malicious arrest” and the national prosecution authority (NPA) for "malicious prosecution and defamation of character" following their acquittal on 25 July.

The three men, along with Frans Madzive (54), David Mnisi (28) and Reynie Abraal (32), were being accused of allegedly removing Mr Phillip Bendzani's genitals before setting him alight at Mununzu Farm outside Elim last year on 16 May.

During the newspaper's visit at the home of the Malange twins at Mutonga near Elim, brothers Shadrack and Meshack said that the fact that they had been accused for a ritual murder had complicated their lives. “Community members see ruthless murderers when they look at us,” says Shadrack.

They also revealed that they are living in fear in their own home and within the community they are part of. They then explained how, when they were in prison, they received a message from their family that the angry community had warned the family never to visit them in prison. “We had such a painful experience in prison because we never knew what would happen to our loved ones out there, because of our being implicated in the case and the community who threatened them always,” Shadrack stated.

He added that his partner and child had since left, after they had realised that their safety was at stake. “I don't even know where they are,” he says. “This murder case has messed up my whole life.”

Shadrack maintains that his brother Meshack, Meshack Mkhwanadzi and he were arrested after Reynie Abraal said that they were his friends. “We think they were torturing him and he just mentioned our names,” he explained.

He said that he failed to understand the reason why the court had to keep him in custody for 14 months before they eventually dropped the charges against him. “I feel that the court failed to do their job properly and to act on time, when they kept me in jail for a long time, and that for nothing,” he complained.

Meshack's shack was demolished after the enraged community had ordered his mother to scrap it. “I am left with nothing, and I have got no place to stay,” he worried. “I am now suffering because of the police, who wrongfully arrested me.”

The Malange brothers' guardian and grandmother, Vho-Tshinakaho Malange, says that there were some people who were spreading a rumour in the village that the court had set her grandsons free because she had supplied the twins with a strong muti which had stupefied the minds of the prosecution authority and the magistrate. “I don't like what these people are alleging. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth,” she spoke out in a very pained voice. "Some say I am living with the killers under the same roof. This is unfair; who am I to dismiss the court's ruling that my grandsons are innocent?"

“There are rascals who prowl the village in the night, assaulting and mugging people. The next morning, we hear that it's my grandsons who are terrorising the community. Shadrack and Meshack are the scapegoats of the village.”

The state withdrew the charges against Mkhwanadzi, Malange and Malange on the basis that investigations could not link them to the crime. All attempts to reach Meshack Mkhwanadzi at his place of safety were fruitless.

The claimants’ lawyer, Mr Desmond Mphaphuli, confirmed that they have issued a letter of demand against the Minister of Safety and Security for the unlawful detention and malicious arrest of the three acquitted men. “We issued a further claim against the NPA for malicious prosecution and defamation of character,” said Mphaphuli. “We have instituted a claim of R 5 million per person.”