Four caught cooking human flesh

A sangoma one of the “cannibals”

A rural village in Escourt‚ KwaZulu-Natal‚ is abuzz with allegations of black magic‚ muthi and cannibalism as four men – one of whom is a traditional healer – stand accused of murdering a woman and eating parts of her body.

The group made a brief appearance in the Estcourt Magistrate’s Court yesterday facing charges of murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

Their arrests followed the confession of a man who walked into the Estcourt police station at the weekend‚ declaring to officers that he was tired of eating human flesh.

When officers questioned his outlandish statement‚ the man allegedly produced part of a human leg and a human hand.

It is understood that the man led detectives to a house in Rensburgdrift, where they were confronted with an odour of death and more human remains.

Ward councillor Mthembeni Majola said the community had been shaken after hearing about the macabre discovery by police and held a meeting yesterday morning.

“There was a community meeting because I wanted to find out their position on this and the extent of the involvement of the accused. They came from our ranks. Their families confessed that they knew about the killings‚” Majola said.

He said people whose relatives had disappeared were now urged to come forward.

“It cannot only be one body. When the police were following this matter they discovered eight ears in a pot where one man was staying. That means there is much more to this‚” Majola said.

National Prosecuting Authority spokeswoman Natasha Ramkisson-Kara said the four were remanded in custody. “The four will appear again next week when they are expected to apply for bail.”

Police spokeswoman Colonel Thembeka Mbhele said the task at hand centred on identifying the mortal remains found at the crime scenes. “An appeal is made to members of the community ... who have their relatives missing‚ to please proceed to police station.”