Ugly situation at Muledane as residents go on rampage

The situation at Muledane in Thohoyandou became tense on Friday as residents went on the rampage, destroying property and barricading roads in the village.

Residents were angered by what they said were endless killings in their area and what they call "police inefficiency to deal with the killings".

The latest to be killed is a 26-year-old man, Mr Patrick Ndwamato, who went missing about a week ago, after telling his family he was going for some drinks at a nearby tavern. He was never seen again until residents launched several search parties. The body of Ndwamato was found on Friday in small bushes next to the local clinic.

This angered the residents, who believed that the man had been killed somewhere else and was dumped in the bushes. Incensed residents went on the rampage, barricading roads with rubble and other scrap, making roads impassable for traffic.

They even went to houses of those they suspected and ransacked the houses and cars, looking for the evidence that could link the suspects to the crime, but nothing was found. They promised to come back the following day, which they did.

One of those suspected had his house torched in broad daylight on Saturday, while another had his taxi damaged with stones. Residents who had gathered at the house tried to call the fire-fighters stationed at the village, but the house was totally gutted as they watched helplessly.

Even the police were nowhere to be seen and residents were complaining that, had there been police action, no damage would have been done as the attackers had threatened to attack the families.

Thohoyandou police spokesperson Lt-Col Mashudu Malelo said that they had opened an arson case and four cases of malicious damage to property. He said they also opened an inquest docket in respect of the dead man and that the cause of the death would be subject of the investigation and postmortem.

"We are appealing to the community to give us space to investigate the case and those with information should bring it forth, so that we can use it to solve the case. Taking the law into their own hands will land them in trouble, as we will hunt them down and arrest them. So far, we have not arrested anyone in connection with the cases, but investigations are continuing," he said.

At present the situation is calm in the village and it was reported that members of a cleaning team were dispatched to the area to clean the roads.

Date:05 September 2016

By: Elmon Tshikhudo

Elmon Tshikhudo started off as a photographer. He developed an interest in writing and started submitting articles to local as well as national publications. He became part of the Limpopo Mirror family in 2005 and was a permanent part of the news team until 2019.

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