Category Archives: ‘muti’

Cameroonian woman kills sister-in-law, chops body for ritual

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It is relatively rare that ritual murder cases are being reported from Cameroon though this does not mean that these atrocious practices do not occur in this Central African country. I’ve explained on previous occasions that my continuous search for ‘muti’ murders, ‘money rituals’, ritual killings and other superstitious practices suffers from a bias. As a result, more cases from anglophone countries than from francophone and lusophone countries are being brought to my attention.

Though both French and English are official languages in Cameroon, eight out of its ten regions are primarily francophone. Hence, francophone media dominate the news which may explain the underreporting of Cameroonian ritual murder cases on this site. (webmaster FVDK)

Cameroonian woman kills sister-in-law, chops body for ritual (Videos, Photos)

Warning: article contains graphic details (webmaster FVDK):

Cameroonian woman kills sister-in-law, chops body for ritual (Videos, Photos)
Published: August 23, 2022
By: TSJ Reporter – The StreetJournal, Nigeria

More articles on the same murder case:

Woman Kills Sister-In-Law, Chops Body For Suspected Money Ritual

Published: August 23, 2022
By: Rachel Okporu – Naija News, Nigeria

Marie France Mbea, a 57-year-old Cameroonian woman, has been arrested for allegedly killing her sister-in-law for suspected money ritual.

Naija News gathered that the culprit killed the woman and chopped her body in a hotel in Yaoundé’s Biyem Assi area.

Marie was intercepted on Monday, August 22, 2022, while leaving the hotel with the body parts stuffed in a suitcase.

According to Local Media, the suspect claimed she had a phone conversation with an unidentified man who directed her to murder her sister-in-law in exchange for money.

She checked into the hotel with the victim where she used a beer bottle to hit her on the head and slit her throat.

Marie fled the hotel on Sunday night after killing her sister-in-law, only to return on Monday carrying a machete and a travelling bag.

When the hotel administration saw that she was carrying something too heavy for her and refused offers of assistance, they became suspicious and called the police.

The suspect, during interrogation at Yaounde police headquarters, admitted that the body parts were intended to be transferred to a man in exchange for money.

Source: Woman Kills Sister-In-Law, Chops Body For Alleged Money Ritual

Bulawayo residents live in fear of ritual murders (Zimbabwe) 

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There is no doubt. Ritual murders are rampant in Zimbabwe. Significantly, still in May last year President Mnangagwa appealed to the general public, to traditional healers and to witch doctors to stop killing people for ritualistic purposes. See my posting Zimbabwe President Mnangagwa: ‘Stop ritual killings!’

I’ve posted earlier reports on ritualistic activities and murders in Zimbabwe including Matabeleland. The article below focuses on Bulawayo, the country’s second largest city and the largest city in Matabeleland. Its population is estimated at about 1 million.

One may think that traditional beliefs including the superstitious belief in the supra-natural powers of ‘muti’ persist mainly in the rural areas. The article below indicates that migrants from rural regions who settle in urban centers bring with them their cultural values and religious beliefs including, unfortunately, traditional repulsive activities which violate the law.
(webmaster FVDK)

Bulawayo Residents Live In Fear Of Ritual Murders

Published: June 30, 2022
By: Zimeye – Zimbabwe

Panic has gripped Bulawayo residents following a spike in suspected ritual murders in the city.

A number of mutilated bodies have been discovered in the city over the past few months, while some residents have been reportedly kidnapped and their blood drained by unknown culprits still at large.

Over the weekend, a yet to be identified woman was found dead with missing body parts at the 21km peg along the Bulawayo-Plumtree road.

Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association chairperson, Ambrose Sibindi told Southern Eye that there were several reports of such incidents happening in Bulawayo and other parts of Matabeleland.

He appealed to law enforcement agencies to devise ways to curb such cases.

“Inexplicable stories are now common, lawlessness has become the norm. People are now behaving like animals,” Sibindi said.

“I would like to urge residents to shun boarding private cars. If possible the law enforcement teams in plain clothes must be on alert at transport pick up points to effectively deal with these shady activities.”

Bulawayo United Residents Association chairperson, Winos Dube said: “We are disheartened and disappointed as residents to learn that these activities are taking place among our people. Ritualism is becoming a menace and people have to be very vigilant. They shouldn’t board unknown vehicles belonging to people they do not know.”

Dube advised the commuting public to use public transport to avoid such dangers.

Recently, the owner of a shop at Kelvin was kidnapped after boarding a Honda Fit vehicle with unidentified women. They took the victim to a secluded bushy area where she was injected with an unknown substance which made her unconscious.

The suspects, who are still at large, allegedly drained blood from her body for suspected ritual purposes. They then dumped her some 15km from Kensington.

National police spokesperson, Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said all the incidents would be investigated.

“I cannot say it’s ritualism; we are conducting an investigation to find out what really transpired so that the truth comes out,” Nyathi said.

Source: Byo Residents Live In Fear Of Ritual Murders

Southern Africa: shocking details of ‘muti’ murders

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Warning: the following article contains graphic details, the reader may find the article shocking.

The following article from Eric Naki, the Political Eitor of The Citizen, a South African online news magazine, contains several frank observations which are worth specifically mentioning here.

First, Naki, citing an expert on ritual murders, Dr Alunamutwe Rannditsheni, from Limpopo province, tells us that ritual murders are a worldwide phenomenon, occurring not only in Africa or Sub-Saharan Africa. I am very happy with this expert-observation even though it results in mixed feelings because of its sad contents. I have also mentioned it in my introduction to this website on ritual killing, witchcraft and superstition in African countries (‘Why publish this site‘).

Secondly, reportedly, kidnappings, human trafficking, and ritual murders, often referred to as ‘muti murders’, are well-known crimes in nearly all 16 member-states of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC).  This is shocking. The combined population living in the 16 SADC-countries totals about 300 million people.

Lastly, the well-informed author confirms the ghastly details of the way muti murders are committed. Organs or other body parts are extracted live from the poor and helpless victims, not seldom children. The reality is sometimes too hard to describe and too revolting to imagine.

Ritual murders, human trafficking, kidnappings, and associated fear and torture are a plague in many African countries and must stop immediately. To the governments which have a sacred obligation to protect their citizens I would say: ‘If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.’ (webmaster FVDK).

Muti murders: ‘Genitals only work if cut from live victims’

Published: May 20, 2021
By: The Citizen, South Africa – Eric Naki

Victims were lured with promises of jobs, but when they arrived at the destination, they would be abducted and taken away to have their body parts cut off.

An expert on ritual murders, Dr Alunamutwe Rannditsheni, from Limpopo, said ritual killings were a worldwide phenomenon and not only an African problem.

Almost all of the SADC countries experienced ritual killing-related kidnappings and human trafficking.

A 2008 investigation by the Human Rights League in Mozambique found such murders were rife in the country. It found people were trafficked between countries with the purpose to remove parts to be trafficked separately.

The league, which interviewed survivors, eye-witnesses, families of victims and civil society in Mozambique and South Africa, found body parts were forcibly removed from children and adults, causing death or severe disability.

“Throughout the report, informants share personal experiences, which confirm that body parts are taken across the border between South Africa and Mozambique.”

A custom’s official in Sofala province, Mozambique, said: “They say the treatments with genital organs only work if they are taken from a person alive.”

In some instances in Mozambique, victims were beheaded before the parts were removed.

“The murderer cut her throat like she was a goat. He cut her head just like that and removed her genital organs, leaving all the rest,” the report quoted a police officer at Cabo Delgado Province, Mozambique as saying.

In another case, a female stall holder at Ressano Garcia on the border with South Africa was fingered for ritual murders.

“The police searched and found that she was carrying genital organs of adult men … I don’t know how many exactly, it was several. But they were from adult men, I saw them myself,” an officer said.

Cases of muti killings were also reported in Zimbabwe, Botswana, Mozambique, Swaziland, Lesotho, Malawi and Tanzania. People living with albinism were the main targets in Tanzania.

Community leader and businessman Phumudzo Mukhwati alleged the ritual murder gangs had spread to provinces such as KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, North West and Gauteng.

Victims were lured with promises of jobs, but when they arrived at the destination, they would be abducted and taken away to have their body parts cut off in Limpopo or a neighbouring country.

Source: Muti murders: ‘Genitals only work if cut from live victims’

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) comprises 16 Member States: Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.