Albino kids saved from ‘muti’ sale

Police arrest KZN woman

AKZN woman, who was allegedly trying to sell captured albino girls for muti purposes, was trapped by the police when a traditional healer informed them of the proposed horrific deal.

The 28-year-old woman from Thobothini, near Jozini, appeared in Bonjeni Magistrate’s Court on Monday and is due to appear again on Tuesday to apply for bail. She has been charged with human trafficking after allegedly trying to sell three children ranging from 7 to 13 years old.

The traditional healer that the girls were to be sold to, James Mthembu, who is better known locally as Godolulalamankankane, is from Phelandaba in Zululand. Mthembu said he got a call from a woman saying that she was selling girls who were albinos.

“I listened to her saying I could buy them. I asked her to wait for me, and I would get back to her,” explained Mthembu. “That’s when I contacted the Child Protection and Sexual Offences Investigations Unit at Jozini and then we tricked her together with detectives from Richards Bay.

“I requested her to meet up with me and I was accompanied by detectives whom I said shouldn’t say anything, and told her that they were my sons. She carried on saying that she was actually selling three children, including twins. She said that each child was worth R100 000. I asked for a discount because I didn’t have money and she agreed.

“After she had agreed, she informed me that she would also give me the other children for R50 000 each because “they are many”.

“We then asked to see the child that was being sold to us. When we went to see the child, she asked me to stay behind because I’m well known around the neighbourhood but my sons can go (the detectives). They did as they were told and arrested her after they had seen the child,” explained Mthembu.

Mthembu was the first traditional healer in Zululand to publicly criticise the killing of Thandazile Nanana Msweli from Scabazini, who was an albino. Her body was mutilated after she was murdered.

Mastermind

Mthembu has been leading marches to the Magistrate’s Court in Manguzi and Mtubatuba during the trial of Pastor Bhekukufa Sambonga Gumede, who is accused of being the mastermind behind the killing of Msweli.

KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Thulani Zwane confirmed the woman had been charged with human trafficking. “She was arrested by the Child Protection and Sexual Offences Investigations Unit.

“They are still searching for a missing boy, Maneliswa Ntombela, who is also an albino,” said Zwane. Attempts to contact the children’s families failed.

KwaZulu-Natal transport and safety MEC Mxolisi Kaunda said in Jozini on Sunday that they wouldn’t tolerate the killing of albinos for muti purposes. “We will arrest the murderer and the traditional healer who buys the body parts of a person,” said Kaunda.

President of the traditional healers association of South Africa, Sazi Mhlongo, praised Mthembu for exposing the human trafficking. He also said that what Mthembu had done was a clear indication that those who sold human body parts were the criminals, not the traditional healers.

KwaZulu-Natal MEC for social development, Weziwe Thusi, said: “We call upon all the traditional healers to stand against the killing of albinos for muti purposes. We are glad that there are still faithful traditional healers like the one who tipped off the police. We urge our community members to blow the whistle if there are any suspicious actions in their communities”.

However, the family of Maneliswa, 4, still await news more than a year after he was kidnapped on June 21 at Sikhaleni in Richards Bay.

He was playing with his four-year-old cousin at a church near his home.

Maneliswa’s cousin told his mother Qhaphi Ntombela that two men had abducted him and they also referred to him by name.

The investigating officer, Lieutenant Colonel Makhosi Ncube, didn’t want to disclose any information about the case, when contacted for comment.

Thandazile Msweli was murdered last year. Two men were sentenced to 20 years in jail while a third, who was still a juvenile, was sentenced to 18 years.

The convicted men claimed they had been instructed by a traditional healer.