The family of two ritual murder victims say an agonising two-month wait for DNA results is compounding their grief.
Rendani Tshigwili, 32, and her two-year-old daughter Ndingatshilidzi Makungo, vanished in May 2025 after leaving their home at Malavuwe outside Thohoyandou for a shopping trip to town.
Their burnt, decapitated bodies were discovered in bushes at Tshikonelo on 30 July, following intensive police investigations. The heads were later found with one of four accused at Muraga village.
Tshilidzi Phalandwa, 43, Balanganani Sedzani Tshivhombedze, 32, Humbulani Munzhelele, 55, and Mpho Nefale, 38, are charged with their murders. Their case was postponed to 4 November 2025 for further investigations and all were remanded in custody.
The murdered woman's mother, Gladys Tshigwili, expressed dissatisfaction at the slow DNA process.
"We grieved a lot when the two disappeared without a trace, but we became a bit relieved when their bodies were found. We appreciate the fact that police managed to find them for us, but the process to formally identify them is now taking far too long. We cannot find closure in the whole matter, but burying them will bring us closer there," she said.
She said her daughter had been respectful, quiet and peaceful and had not deserved such a brutal death. "I am so saddened that she leaves two minor children," Tshigwili said.
Another family member, Precious Tshigwili, said: "We need the results, so that we can finally give our loved ones a decent sendoff."