UPDATE: Hundreds confess to eating human remains in cannibalistic rituals
Hundreds of residents in the area have allegedly admitted to visiting a nyanga knowing he was giving them human flesh to eat as muti.
More information has come to light as literally hundreds of people in the Amangwe area of KwaZulu-Natal have confessed to eating human remains, Ladysmith Gazette reports.
Nino Mbatha, 32, one of four people arrested, was formally a nyanga (traditional healer) practising in Ladysmith, and allegedly fled to Estcourt for unknown reasons.
At a resident meeting held yesterday in the Amangwe area, near Estcourt, more than 700 people gathered. When questioned by a councillor, 300 of them admitted to visiting Mbatha knowing he was giving them human flesh to eat as muti (traditional medicine).
It is unclear at this stage if he practised cannibalistic traditional medicine while he was a nyanga in Ladysmith.
Police have confirmed that the Provincial Occult Related Crime Unit will be investigating the case.
READ MORE: A flesh-eating cannibal hands himself over to police
Officers at Estcourt Police Station were shocked to the core when a man handed himself over claiming he was “tired of eating human flesh”, Ladysmith Gazette reported yesterday.
Police were skeptical until he produced parts of a human leg and a hand.
Investigating officers immediately began an investigation, leading to the arrest of two more men. It is believed at least one of the men is the nyanga.
READ MORE: Limpopo lions being killed for muti that gives ‘power in business’
It is also believed the three men raped, killed and ate their female victims.
Police are attempting to link them to other missing person cases in the area. It is not clear how far and wide they searched for their victims, and Ladysmith (70km from Estcourt) victims have not been ruled out.
READ MORE
– Caxton News Service
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