Hlathikhulu– Magele residents were shell-shocked when a traditional healer confessed to having a hand in the death of nine community members.
Magele is a small community in Hlathikhulu, in the Shiselweni region.
The Inyanga Sikhonkwane Mavuso confessed to poisoning the late ennead working with his brother Tiki Mavuso.
The duo made the confession after they were attacked by a mob which comprised mainly of the youth, after they allegedly raped and forced a schoolgirl to ingest a deadly substance. She succumbed to death a few minutes later while enroute to Hlathikhulu Government Hospital.
It is alleged that before *Sindi succumbed to death she told her mother, who was in a company of two men of what the two had done to her.
It should be noted that Sindi’s home sells traditional brew and many people frequent there on daily basis.
It is alleged that on the fateful day the duo went to Sindi’s home to buy brew and found her alone, that’s when they proceeded to raping and further poisoning her and, on their way, out of the homestead they met her mother. They exchanged pleasantries told her they had come to buy brew and no one answered at the door when they knocked and promised to come back later.
When Sindi’s mother got to the house, she found her daughter groaning in pain and asked her what happened, she was shocked by what she was told by her ailing daughter.
After the news of Sindi’s passing spread through the community, young people started to mobilise and vowed to take care of the two. At around 22:00hrs the following day they stormed Sikhokwane’s home and beat him to pulp until he made the startling confession. It should be noted that by the time they attacked Sikhonkwane, Tiki was already in hospital as he too had been attacked by the mob around lunch time.
When asked why they killed the young girl, Mavuso told the community members that they were afraid that she was going to report them for the rape as she could easily identify them as their home was a stone throw away from hers.
For Sindi’s murder Mavuso said they used master 900, a deadly pesticide but for the other people they used a unique concoction he made from herbs which took about three days to kill the host after ingesting.
After admitting to killing Sindi, Mavuso was forced to name all the other people he killed and how he carried out his mission.
He told the angry youth that he used to give Tiki the poisonous substance to sprinkle in the drink of the deceased because he knew people would not suspect him.
* not her real name
When narrating, Mavuso said Tiki would put the poison o0n his finger nail, then ask the deceased to share a sip with him (amubambele) then stealthily, dust the poison into the drink then hand it over to the unsuspecting “target”.
In other cases, according to Mavuso, Tiki would wait for the deceased to go to the toilet before spiking the drink with the deadly concoction and upon return the unsuspecting patron would take his drink and continue drinking.
After a few hours most of the people whom Mavuso confessed to have had a hand in their death all displayed similar symptoms. They complained of an aching stomach, after two days the stomach would swell and turn green. When they passing air, an unbearable smell would fill the room.
Apparently, Mavuso does not frequent drinking spots as other people do not want to associate with him due to suspicions of witchcraft, suspicions that have been around for over a decade now.
After the two were heavily assaulted they were admitted to the Hlathikhulu Government Hospital, then later transferred to Mbabane Government hospital as they had sustained serious injuries. They spent over three weeks in both hospitals before they were released, Tiki is now wheelchair bound.
After getting released from the hospital they did not go back to their home area in fear of the unknown, they went to hide in Mkhitsini, a remote area around Nhlangano.
Mavuso confirmed to this journalist that they are hiding in Mkhitsini but vowed to return to Magele after the dust has settled.
When asked if he was not scared that the community will attack his family, he boastfully told this journalist that his sister, who is also a traditional healed performed rituals on all the family members, therefore anyone who dares touch them would rue the day they were born.
During Sindi’s funeral, the area’s inner council vowed to follow up on the matter and take necessary action about the duo as they felt duty bound to protect the lives of the community members.
Speaking on behalf of the inner council was the area’s umgijimi who was only identified as babe Simelane. Simelane said as the custodians of the community “we cannot sit back and watch as other people go around killing residents of the area, in fact we are not prepared as the community to accept them back.”
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