Seven people who poured petrol over two women and set them alight after accusing them of practising witchcraft, have been jailed for life.
The sentence was handed down in the Eastern Cape High Court sitting in Ntabankulu.
Justice came almost six years after the victims, Nothethisa Ntshamba and Ntombekhaya Ndlanya, were brutally killed in the presence of their children.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in the Eastern Cape said the accused Lwandiso Mzaza, 29, Lufefe Mzaza, 28, Zithini Rhayisa, 34, Yamkela Nonjojo, 31, Odwa Nonjojo, 34, Anelisiwe Nonjojo, 32, and Mkhonzeni Ngcabangcosi, 24, were found guilty on two counts of murder and arson.
NPA spokesperson Luxolo Tyali explained the merits of the case, stating that on December 12, 2018, the group of young people held two meetings chaired by Lwandiso Mzaza.
“It was at this meeting that it was decided that the victims must be killed by burning them because they were practising witchcraft.
“They clubbed money and bought petrol to burn the deceased, their houses, and their families.”
That same night, Ntshamba was at home with her husband, three children, and her sister Ndlanya
“While Ntshamba was 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 homestead to ashes.”
The accused according to the NPA denied their involvement in the crime.
“Rhayisa, who had confessed to the police attempted to distance herself from it, necessitating a trial-within-a-trial. The court found the confession admissible.”
The NPA said during court proceedings, Senior State Advocate Mbulelo Nyendwa submitted to the court that violence against women accused of unfounded claims of practising witchcraft was prevalent not only in the Eastern Cape but across the country.
Tyali stated: “He (Nyendwa) added that 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.”
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