While South Africa marked Child Protection Week ending today, in a quiet and sleepy village of eMbazwane, far northern KwaZulu-Natal, a brutal form of violence has been unleashed on children.
This week alone three children were killed and several others feared for their lives as an unknown syndicate is believed to be hunting them down for their body parts.
The situation is such that terrified parents appealed to provincial community safety MEC Peggy Nkonyeni to come to their rescue.
Community activist Nomalungelo Mthalane described their plight as desperate, saying parents had resorted to keeping their children at home, fearing that they might be abducted and killed on their way to school.
“Children here walk long distances to school and we are afraid that they will be abducted and killed. Last year, a young girl went missing on her way to school and her body was discovered two weeks later dumped in a stream. Some of her body parts were missing. Parents are now afraid for their children, that is why they are forcing them to quit school,” said a distraught Mthalane.
Another parent Skhumbuzo Mabika said the gruesome discovery of 13-year-old Thobani Khambule’s decapitated body in a bush had renewed fears of the community.
The head was later found in an abandoned homestead where it had been thrown inside a pit toilet.
The teenager had been missing for days before his body was found.
A 29-year-old man has since been arrested.
“The community are reeling with shock following the disappearance of young children. Crimes of this nature are rampant in our village because we do not have police stations close by. The only one that services about nine villages is 55km away,” said Khambule.
Muthi killings and targeting children for body parts are believed to be a common occurrence in several villages under UMkhanyakude district such as Jozini, Ingwavuma, eMbazwane and eManguzi.
The killings often target people with albinism.
The killing of the children coincided with the province hosting a crime summit which deliberated on strategies to fight the high levels of violent crime, especially of rape and murder.
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