Three to die for ‘muti’ killing

The Rhodesia Herald,

December 17, 1971

THE murder of a 21-month-old girl was probably one of the most horrible to come before the High Court, Mr Justice Jarvis said yesterday.

It exploited the weakness that some rural Africans had for witchcraft, he said.

An nganga (herbalist), Julius, and two other men, Elliot and Naison, were all sentenced to death for murdering the girl, Chipo, near Chikadze Kraal, in the Chikwaka Tribal Trust Land, Goromonzi area. They had denied the charge.

It was alleged in a statement made by Julius that organs were cut from Chipo and mixed with “medicine” — to enable a businessman to prosper.

The mixture was buried near the businessman’s two grinding mills.

Mr J. Reid Rowland, prosecuting, said it was a common belief in the area that a businessman could increase his profitability if he used “muti”, and put it in his premises.

To make it effective, it should contain human organs. It was normal for an nganga to tell the businessman what ingredients to supply.

Julius claimed in one statement that the businessman had killed the girl and Elliot had cut out the organs, and in another that Naison had killed Chipo and the businessman had removed parts of the body.

Naison and Elliot claimed in their statements that Julius had killed Chipo and cut out the organs.

It was alleged during the trial that police had used force to get the three accused to make statements.

Seven police witnesses denied this and Mr Justice Jarvis ruled that the statements had been voluntarily made.

LESSONS FOR TODAY

• Ritual killings are common in most African countries, and they involve the killing of people, young and old to take body parts for the rituals.
• In other African countries, this horrendous act targets children and people with albinism.
• The recent ritual murder of Tapiwa Makore (7) of Nyamutumbu Village in Murehwa is another incident that proves we still have people who practice these ritual murders in Zimbabwe.
• It is time Governments turns up the heat on culprits and puts an end to this violation of human rights.
• Heavy sentences should be given to those who commission as well as carry out the ritual killings.