DOCUMENTS

"R10 for heart attack muthi!" - Daily Sun

The front page and lead story of SA's largest daily newspaper, August 26 2014

Daily Sun (August 26 2014) - FIRST THEY had strokes and then they died - all within a year of each other. Suspicious villagers believe all six of them died because of a powerful killer muthi.

THEY SAID IT WAS SOLD FOR AS LITTLE AS R10!

Now residents in rural Ga-Setati, Ga-Chokoe and Ga-Kobo in Moletji, Limpopo have chased away the people they believe are responsible for the deaths of six villagers.

The villagers all showed the same symptoms. They suffered strokes and shortly afterwards died from heart attacks.

On Thursday angry residents trashed the foreigners' shacks and chased them out of the villages after one of them allegedly confessed to selling the muthi. A resident who didn't want to be named told Daily Sun they don't want the muthi sellers in their villages any longer.

"One of the sellers offered his muthi to a villager and confessed that it was used to kill people.  "The muthi-man has since disappeared but if we catch him we want him to heal our people who suffered for R10," said the villager. According to residents, a Mozambican man confessed to selling muthi that makes people suffer heart attacks and die shortly afterwards.

At least six people are believed to have been attacked and to have died since the business started operating in the areas no more than a year ago. Headman Choene Chokwe told Daily Sun villagers started threatening and chasing foreigners after a man told them he was selling heart attack muthi.  "He admitted selling this muthi to the residents in our area to attack people by causing strokes,'' he said.

Chokwe said the man was told to leave the village immediately.  "The accused man went to Ga-Kobo and slept at a friend's place and that angered the villagers, who then searched for foreigners and chased them away," said Chokwe.  One of the foreigners, Dumisane Sithole, told Daily Sun he suffered for the sins of a man he doesn't even know. "My two-roomed shack and all my belongings were burnt. "I have been living here for 16 years.  "I'm a welder and a carpenter. How can I be part of a team selling these things for R10?'' said Sithole. The alleged heart attack muthi seller has since disappeared. Seshego police spokesman Mothemane Malefo said they opened a case of arson following the attack on the property of the foreigners.

See the Daily Sun mobi site for more on this and other stories....

 

The Daily Sun is South Africa's largest daily newspaper with an average circulation of 274 165 (Audit Bureau of Circulations 2nd Quarter 2014) and a readership of 5.7m (as per AMPS 2012ab). Its Facebook page can be accessed here. It can be followed on Twitter here. To find about advertising on the Daily Sun click here.

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