Almost two years after traditional healer Vusiwana Baloyi was sentenced to life imprisonment for the brutal ritual murder of Ms Mercy Ndou of Shayandima, the police in Limpopo made another major breakthrough when a further six people were arrested in connection with the case.
The accused, Gerson Mathoho (52), who is a former police captain, Shonisani Muruge (52), Azwinndinj Ndou (42), Khuthadzo Tshidino (28), Eric Khobo (30) and Mr Rhulani Shirindi appeared in court last Thursday and were remanded in custody until Wednesday, 25 April, for a bail application.
Some of the accused will also be facing additional charges of murder, where a firearm was used during 1999, and kidnapping, which occurred during 2011.
Their appearance drew the attention of the community and Court D at the Thohoyandou magistrate court was filled to capacity.
During the appearance, the accused calmly and attentively listened while their legal teams argued that their bail applications should not be postponed as the cases were old matters where the state had had enough time to prepare.
This request was turned down by the court, which remanded them in custody.
The legal teams indicated they would approach the High Court for urgent relief.
The six are being accused of being involved in a ritual murder case that took place at Tshitavha village in 2014. Their arrest and subsequent appearance in court emanated from the gruesome killing of Mercy Ndou, who was 33 at the time. She disappeared after telling her family she was visiting friends and she would be back to help them move to another township.
That was the last time her family saw her alive. Her body was discovered in bushes at Tshitavha village, with most of her body parts missing. Her murder was described as one of the most gruesome ever witnessed in the province.
The investigations that followed her death led to the arrest of a traditional healer, Vusiwana Baloyi, who was later sentenced to life imprisonment by the Limpopo High Court sitting in Thohoyandou in 2016.
During his trial, Baloyi mentioned the names of people he was with, but the community was shocked to find that they had not been not arrested. Unbeknown to them, the police were still investigating. They made a major breakthrough last week when they arrested six people in connection with the murder. The six, two females and four males, were charged with ritual murder.
Limpopo police spokesperson Brigadier Motlafela Mojapelo said more arrests could not be ruled out.
The arrest came as good news to the family of Mercy Ndou. "We were surprised to find that Baloyi had mentioned names, but nothing was done about it. Now that they are arrested, we are somewhat relieved. We are on our way to finding closure in this matter, knowing who killed our beloved Mercy," said Reverend Jabulane Monegi, a family spokesperson.