HLUTI – A traditional healer wanted for the murder of his girlfriend turned himself in to police on Tuesday.
Investigators said the 36-year-old suspect who plied his healing trade in South Africa was sought in the death of a 22-year-old woman of Sahhukwana, outside Hluti, who had gone missing from her home since March 16.
The woman’s badly decomposed body was found in a bush at Ngololweni, which is located approximately 20km away from her homestead, on March 20, 2025.
The victim is believed to have been killed before being dumped in the bush.
It is alleged that on the day when she went missing, the woman was supposed to meet her lover – being the inyanga – at a bus stop, where she had been invited to come and collect groceries.
It is also believed that she made the trip from her home to the bus stop but then vanished.
Her badly decomposed body was discovered only four days afterwards.
The man who had earlier been identified by investigators as a person of interest in the inquest into the suspected murder reportedly surrendered to Hluti police on Tuesday.
The investigation is still ongoing, according to Police Spokesperson Superintendent Phindile Vilakati, who confirmed that the woman’s body was found in a decomposed state.
The suspect’s arraignment can be expected soon.
The death of the woman is a devastating addition to the soaring cases of femicide in Eswatini, and especially crimes of passion.
Her death follows the tragic death of yet another female, reportedly in the hands of the father of her daughter.
The latest incident left the Hlatshwayo family of Sahhukwana shattered. Her inconsolable father Mpiyakhe Hlatshwayo could not summon enough courage to say something about the tragic loss.
“I can’t talk right now, this is weighing heavily on me. You better speak to the family elders,” he said briefly during an interview conducted shortly before the news about the suspect turning himself in.
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