Gogos accused of witchcraft rescued by police from mob

2 22 OCTOBER 2021

MEC promises another R30 million to try and finish incomplete roads

By Kaizer Nengovhela Residents in the Sinthumule and Kutama area are complaining about the shoddy construction work and lack of progress that is being made on the rehabilitation of the D959 Road from Louis Trichardt to Makhado Air Force Base.

The six-month project was started in February this year and, less than three months in, construction has been left abandoned, incomplete and already strewn with new potholes in the base layer.

Residents were dismayed when, soon after the project started, the road had been opened even though anyone could clearly see that the construction work was incomplete. This poor effort has left local communities up in arms and they are now pointing furious fingers at the Limpopo MEC for Public Works, Dickson Masemola, accusing him of being “nothing but a charmer who just wanted to capture the confidence of the people”.

Masemola set aside R11.5 million to fix the D959 and D3715 Roads. This job was never finished, leaving residents with the same dangerous roads and many unanswered questions, such as who is now to blame for the poor condition of the newly “upgraded” road?

The rehabilitation project on the D3715 Road from Madabani to Tshikhodo has also been dormant for more than three months now.

After a local community structure went to see the MEC at his office in Polokwane to lay an official complaint about the shoddy rehabilitation done on the D959, and the lack of any work being done on the D3715, Masemola paid a visit to the area on Thursday, 14 October. He met with residents, local structures (including traditional leaders), taxi associations and business forums at the Muduluni Community Hall.

Masemola said that the budget to complete the work was set at R30 million rand and would be done in two phases. He said that planning would begin in order to have the patching up and rehabilitation work done within the current financial year, and that the rehabilitation process would start as soon as this week, from 18 to 22 October. He said that the communities must work hand in hand with the contractor, so that progress on the development could be seen by all.

Masemola said he noticed that no community structure had been involved in the rehabilitation of the D959 Road. He added that he would meet with the engineer working on the D959 Road to give him (Masemola) a report on the progress made. Masemola warned contractors in Limpopo in this regard. He said that the provincial government was working on a system to blacklist contractors who continued to do shoddy work and claim money for incomplete projects.

He said that the complaints about the unfinished and shoddy work on the D959 Road would be investigated. “We have representatives in that area, and they should notify us if they encounter problems,” he said. Masemola said that they were going to use 5% of the project’s budget to hire local contractors to work on the road.

The chairperson of the Zoutpansberg Community Development Forum (ZCDF), Mr Patrick Sikhutshi, and the Secretary of the Sinthumule/ Kutama Concerned Group (SKCG), formerly known as the Sinthumule/Kutama Crisis Committee, Mr Elijah Liremi, were happy about Masemola’s promises.

The councillor of the Economic Freedom Fighters in the Makhado Municipality, Ms Tshilidzi Maraga, described Masemola as a “reckless leader who does not care for the lives of the people of Vhembe”. She blamed him for opening the poorly constructed and unfinished D959 Road prematurely. “Masemola has a total disregard for people’s lives. How can a right-minded person open a road which he knows could put people’s lives at risk? What if people were killed?” she asked. “These people have failed the province and they are now putting the lives of the people in danger in the name of service delivery. We are not going to let this matter die down without scrutiny. We will take it up in the legislature,” said a fuming Maraga.

Limpopo MEC for Public Works Dickson Masemola. Photo: Kaizer Nengovhela.

Fisherman drowns while fishing

By Kaizer Nengovhela Mr Patricius Netshituni (34) from Tshituni Tshafhasi was unemployed, but this did not prevent him from making a meaningful life for himself and those close to him. He would venture to a local dam to fish, take some of his catch home and sell the rest at the village market.

On 12 October, he went fishing as usual with a friend at a local dam at Mahangani village. Netshituni ventured deeper and deeper with his fishing nets, aiming for the bigger fish. He must have lost his footing and his head went under water. The friend looked for him to resurface, but after a few minutes realised that Netshituni was not coming up, so he ran to the village for help. The police called in their team of search-andrescue divers, but when they arrived at the scene, darkness had already fallen, and the man was nowhere to be found. Community and family members slept

next to the dam until the divers returned the next morning. Assisted by community members, they searched the whole area together, using a boat, but with no success. Neshituni’s body was only found the following day (14 October). News about the drowning hit the village, as well as neighbouring villages, in no time via social media and soon the dam was swarming with curious onlookers. The dam is believed to have swallowed many people through drownings. Police spokesperson Brig Motlafela Mojapelo confirmed the incident. “We have opened an inquest docket and ask residents again, especially children, not to venture into deep waters - either for fishing or swimming - as the rivers hold more dangers than drowning. They can also be attacked by water animals like crocodiles and hippos,” he said. He appealed to parents to tell their children not to play Police drivers after they had retrieved the alongside streams, dams or on body of local fisherman Patricius Netshituni riverbanks, or swim without the (34) from Tshituni Tshafhasi. Photo supplied. supervision of older people.

LIMPOPO MIRROR Two gogos accused of witchcraft rescued by police from angry mob

By Maanda Bele An incident involving two old women who were rescued from an angry mob at Madombidzha Zone 2 last week after villagers started accusing them of witchcraft, has become the talk of not only the whole Vhembe area, but seemingly the whole of Limpopo.

At around 03:30 on the morning of 15 October, while most of the villagers at Madombidzha were still fast asleep, the two women, both in their 80s, were spotted outside. Neither of them is a resident of the village.

What seemed to have raised the villagers’ suspicion was the fact that the gogos were seen near someone’s house with, what upon inspection appeared to have been muti, soap, a piece of wood and a mirror. Adding to their mysterious presence was the fact that one of the women is said to be a traditional healer from Nzhelele, many kilometres from Madombidzha. Where the other woman is from is not clear, but the women are said to be cousins.

At around dawn, however, a local resident crossed their path and asked them their business. Apparently, they told him that they were lost and could not find their way back home. The resident alerted others and soon the two women were confronted by a whole mob, who accused them of witchcraft.

An eyewitness who arrived at this scene said that they were surprised to find the two grannies at that hour of the morning. “On questioning them about why they were there, they could not give a convincing answer. First, they told us that they arrived by the 03:00 am bus. But, of course, we know there is no such bus in the area, as buses only start operating from 05:00. Then they claimed that they were performing rituals at a local household and got lost after assisting their client.” But the villagers were still not convinced by these explanations and were getting fed-up with them. “We were really shocked to find suspicious items in their possession, including muti,” the witness said.

The daughter of one of the old women spoke to Mpho Rathando on Phalaphala FM’s talk show on Monday, 18 October. According to her, her mother suffers from memory loss. She said her mother and her mother’s cousin decided to visit her (the daughter’s) brother, who lives within walking distance from her mother’s house, late last Thursday afternoon. Somehow, she said, they must have taken a wrong turn and got lost.

“On Friday morning, after dropping my kids off at school in Louis Trichardt town, someone I know told me that my mother had fallen, so I rushed to Madombidzha village.” She said that, when she arrived at Madombidzha, she saw her mother lying down on the ground. “When I got to her, I tried to pick her up, but she told me she had been beaten with a stone and a bottle.”

The two old women got in the car with the daughter, but villagers surrounded the car, refusing to let them leave. Only the timely arrival of the son of one of the old women, who was accompanied by the police, saved them. “Otherwise, we might have had a very nasty situation on our hands,” a

witness said. The daughter said her mother had never been accused of witchcraft before. “In our “There is not neces- culture, witches are known to sarily anything sinister about their being be naked, but my mother was fully dressed. She even had a mask on.” She advised the peothere at that time. They ple of Madombidzha to “go to might have lost their school and get educated”. “Learn to have respect for way or got tired after your elders,” she said. “The performing rituals.” Bible says, ‘honour thy father and thy mother, that it may be well with thee’,” she added. She also asked those who had done the two elderly women wrong to come forward and apologise. Dr Matamba Mamuremi, president of the Vhangona Indigenous Health Practitioners organisation, said certain rituals were often performed at those odd hours. “There is not necessarily anything sinister about their being there at that time. They might have lost their way or got tired after performing rituals,” he said. “But at the same time, there are also evil people who go out to bewitch others, which is not in line with our calling as traditional healers,” he said. The Tshilwavhusiku police confirmed that they had received a report about two elderly women at Madombidzha and rushed to the scene, where they rescued them from the mob. They said no charges had been laid by either of the two women. A hot debate around the incident has since taken root, especially on Facebook, with some believing that the woman were busy with some kind of witchcraft, while others say that old age could have been the reason for their getting lost after performing rituals at a client’s home. Two old women became the talk of the town when they were accused of performing witchcraft in Madombidzha village last week. Photo from social media with faces blurred to protect their identities.

Toddler’s head smashed after fight

By Kaizer Nengovhela The rural community of Maila village was shattered after a two-year-old boy was brutally killed on 14 October.

According to police spokesperson Brig Motlafela Mojapelo, the suspect, Steven Moloisi, was fighting with his girlfriend, Monica, on the night of the incident. Family members woke up at around midnight when they heard the two people fighting. When the fight got serious, the family members ran out of the house, leaving Monica’s sister’s two-year-old son, Khodani Sadiki, in the corridor in the house. Blinded by rage, Moloisi allegedly grabbed the child and started smashing his head against the floor. By the time the police and emergency services arrived, the child was dead.

Moloisi (42) was arrested and charged with murder. He appeared in the Louis Trichardt Magistrate’s Court on 15 October. His case was postponed to 27 September for a bail application.

The MEC for Social Development Nkakareng Rakgoale has sent her heartfelt condolences to the Sadiki family. “The department remains concerned about incidents of this nature that are being reported in some parts of the province. We urge people to assist government by always ensuring the safety of children,” Rakgoale said.