Occult killings gain attention amid child murder cases

AS THE nation reels from the brutal discovery of 14-year-old Lukhona Fose’s mutilated body in a Roodepoort field, the horror of her killing lands in the shadow of two other recent tragedies — a mother sentenced for trafficking her missing 6-year-old daughter, Joshlin Smith, and another accused of poisoning her 2-year-old to conceal the child’s gender.

- JONISAYI MAROMO

All three cases point to a disturbing and growing pattern of ritual, occult and gender-based violence against children — often with women cast as perpetrators or enablers.

The SAPS’s specialised occult unit has now been called in to investigate Lukhona’s killing, after her body was found partially hidden under vegetation, her genitalia removed — fuelling fears the murder may have been a hate crime or a muthi killing.

The Grade 8 learner's grandmother raised the alarm when she failed to return home last Saturday. On Sunday, her body was discovered at Durban Deep, Roodepoort, a haunting echo of crimes that appear to blur the line between the inexplicable and the intentional. The specialised occult unit of the SAPS has been roped in to probe the murder of the Ikusasalethu Secondary School in Braamfischerville, learner.

Deputy Minister of Police, Dr Polly Boshielo, said the girl’s genitalia were removed by the killers.

“It cannot be business as usual when women are attacked and killed on a weekly basis. It cannot be normal when a 14-year-old girl’s private part is mutilated and removed,” Boshielo said. “The SAPS occult unit is responsible for investigating all cases where body parts are removed from victims for various reasons including a hate crime or muthi crime.

“There are two possibilities. It could be Lukhona was targeted for her sexuality — making it a hate crime, or her body parts were mutilated for muthi purposes. Our investigations are ongoing and maximum resources have been roped in to find those that are behind the killing of this young woman,” she said.

Lukhona’s killing has drawn comparisons to a number of deeply disturbing recent cases involving children, sangomas and alleged body part trafficking.