Residents of Tsianda village are still in a state of shock after the discovery of the body of 55-year-old Mr Nthambeleni Daniel Mudau on Saturday morning.
It was found next to the entrance gate of a well-known local tavern in the Mashamba area with multiple stab wounds to the head and neck. According to the spokesperson for the Levubu Police, W/O Solly Mukhola, the police were alerted by the tavern owner after the gruesome discovery of the blood-soaked body next to the gate.
The incident is a matter of great concern to the local residents. That became evident when an urgent meeting of the local civic structures was held at the chief's kraal shortly after the body had been removed by officials from the SAPS's forensic pathology unit.
Some of the people who attended the meeting included well-known spiritual leaders Dean Alunamutwe Rannditsheni, Pastor Prince Ramahala and a member of the Safer South Africa Foundation, Dean Tshenuwani Farisani. It was resolved at the meeting that an urgent general meeting for all residents should be called the following day (Sunday).
Sunday's meeting was characterized by emotional utterances, with residents threatening to take the law into their own hands and saying they had lost trust in the police services. They cited an incident where a local resident, Mr Emmanuel Matimba, who was arrested for murder towards the end of last year, escaped from police custody in January this year.
During the meeting, the angry residents accused the police of not doing anything, despite the fact that they had been furnished with information that could lead to the arrest of Matimba, who is still at large. It was stated during the meeting that Matimba's mother knew her son's whereabouts and that her family must be evicted from the village after allegations that she was harbouring a suspected criminal.
Matimba's mother was summoned to the meeting to answer to the charge of "harbouring a wanted criminal". The lone mother braved the residents' anger and availed herself to the meeting. Speaking in full view of hundreds of angry residents, Matimba's mother stated that she last saw her son on 10 January.
A local traditional leader, Thovhele Vho-Pfuluwani Netsianda, then addressed the residents and appealed to them to be calm and to furnish the police with information that could lead to the arrest of Mudau's killers.
At the time of our going to press, nobody had been arreste yetd and W/O Mukhola appealed to residents to supply the police with any information that might lead to the arrest of the killers.