Ritual murders in spotlight during summit

Following high incidents of suspected ritual murder cases in the district, the Vhembe District Municipality and the University of Venda are staging an anti-ritual-murder summit on Friday.

According to Vhembe spokesperson Mr Matodzi Ralushai, the summit will be held at PorscheVilla Hotel, Muledane, outside Thohoyandou.

The police, justice department, traditional leaders, traditional healers, businesspeople, the religious community and journalists will attend the event. It will start at 09:00.

Ralushai said the summit was organized as a way of finding a solution to the ritual killings that have been happening in the district. Recently, Mercy Ndou's mutilated body was found dumped in the bush at Tshitavha village. Several body parts were missing and two people, Desmond Nemushungwa (29) and Nelson Baloyi (48), were arrested for this crime.

Other suspected ritual murder victims were also found at Mbilwi, Makonde and Tshiulungoma.

A few years ago, a summit about witchcraft was staged in Vhembe, following a high number of incidents of people who were killed while being suspected of being witches. After the event, the incidents of witch-craft attacks decreased dramatically in the area.

Date:24 July 2014

By: Ndivhuwo Musetha

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