Family member arrested in murder of Mercy Ndou

Two men were arrested during the past week in connection with the brutal slaughter of Mercy Ndou of Tshitavha. A traditional healer from Tshitavha outside Thohoyandou, Nelson Baloyi, and a close family member of Ndou, Desmond Nemushungwa, were arrested on Thursday.

A spokesperson from the provincial office, Const Tsietsi Lamola, said the two suspects had been arrested by the provincial task team with the help of detectives from the Makuya police station. Baloyi was arrested in Daveyton, Gauteng, while Nemushungwa was arrested at Tshitavha. "We managed to arrest the two suspects after information was supplied by the community.”  The two had already appeared in the Thohoyandou Magistrate's Court last Thursday and the case was postponed to 16 July. They remain in custody.

The spokesperson for the Ndou family, Pastor Jabulani Monegi and Nemushungwa's stepfather, said the "family is shocked about the arrest of our son in this case. We want to stress that we will support any process of the justice system. If our son is found guilty, we will accept it," said Monegi.

Lamola confirmed that more arrests are still expected, but he refused to confirm speculation that a police officer was involved. "More arrests are still on the way as we are busy with our investigations.”

Vhembe District Executive Mayor Cllr Tshitereke Matibe hailed the police for making an arrest in the case. He said that he would be happy if all suspects involved in the case were arrested. "We appeal to our community to help the police with information, so that there can be more arrests. We also appeal to the community to be calm and allow the law to take its course," said Matibe. Vhamusanda Vho-James Fhatuwani Mudalamo of Tshitavha also hailed the arrest as a result of cooperation between the police and the community.

Ndou's mutilated body was found with body parts missing on 15 June, after she went missing from her sister Elisa Ndou's home in Shayandima on 27 May. She was buried on 20 June at Muswodi Dipeni at a sacred burial site, as she is royalty.

The murder has raised fears that the ritual murder season has opened up again in Vhembe. Just a week ago, a Mozambican man was found selling human body parts in the Malamulele area.

According to Monegi, Mercy went missing on 27 May after telling her family in Shayandima she was going shopping in Thohoyandou. “She assisted us in moving our belongings from Shayandima to our new house in Maniini. Coincidentally, the house we were moving into used to be occupied by one of the accused. Mercy left with the promise that she would come back to help us move the remaining belongings, but she never returned,” said Monegi.

Monegi said they were worried when she did not come back and when they tried to phone her, her phone was off. “This came as a surprise to us as she would not sleep out without informing us.”

He added that by Wednesday she had not returned and the family searched everywhere. They even went to the family home at Guyuni, but she was nowhere to be found. They then opened a missing person docket on 29 May and even the police assisted in the search, but she had mysteriously disappeared.

Monegi said it was on 15 June that they received reports of a woman who had been found dead at Tshitavha, and she was later identified as Mercy. “She suffered a lot of pain before she was killed. She was killed in the most cruel way - her eyes were gouged out, her tongue was cut off, both her breasts were removed, her internal organs were missing, her private parts were also severed, as well as her buttocks.”

Date:11 July 2014

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.

Read: 14153