A group of young adults from the Eastern Cape were found guilty of two counts of murder and arson after they killed two women they believed to be witches.
The Eastern Cape Division of the High Court of South Africa, sitting in Ntabankulu, Mthatha, sentenced the group on Friday.
Mkhonzeni Ngcabangcosi 24, Yamkela Nonjojo 31, Odwa Nonjojo 34, Anelisiwe Nonjojo 32, Lufefe Mzaza 28, and Zithini Rhayisa 34, and Lwandiso Mzaza, will be incarcerated for the remainder of their lives.
The Mzazas and Nonjojos are biological brothers, according to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), and all of the convicts are from the Ngonyama administrative area in the EmaXesibeni (previously Mount Ayliff) district, where the crimes were perpetrated.
Well-executed plan
“In 2018, the group of young people had two meetings that were chaired by the older Mzaza brother, Lwandiso, where it was decided that the deceased must be killed by burning them because they were practicing witchcraft,” said NPA spokesperson Luxolo Tyali.
The convicts collected money and purchased petrol to burn the victims’ houses and their loved ones.
“Nothethisa Ntshamba, her husband, their three children, and her sister Ntombekhaya Ndlanya were in her house the same night.
“When Nothethisa went out of the house, accompanying her sister home, they were accosted by the group, assaulted, pelted with stones, petrol poured on them, and then set alight.
“The group then proceeded to burn the Ntshamba’s homestead to ashes,” Tyali added.
During the trial, they all pleaded not guilty and put into question their identity, as they claimed it was at night.
Carrying the stigma
The state led the evidence of the eyewitnesses, some of whom were the children of the deceased.
Senior state advocate, Mbulelo Nyendwa, submitted to the court that violence against women accused of unfounded claims of practising witchcraft was prevalent.
“The children of the deceased had not only lost their mothers but had been displaced, fearing for their lives and still carrying the stigma of being called the children of witches by some members of the community,” said Nyendwa.
Handing down the judgment, Judge Nozuko Mjali highlighted that no self-respecting state can condone what the accused did.
“Society must be protected from people who do not respect the law. This court alone has lost count of cases of this nature in this Ntabankulu circuit alone,” remarked Mjali.
