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HOWZAT
Attend a special evening hosted byMike AthertonOctober 4, 2003
'Magic medicine' murders bedevil South Africa
Rogue traditional traders are still using human body parts to increase theirpotions' power
By Michael Dynes
WHEN police arrested six people outside a squatter camp in Bloemfontein, theywere horrified to find that a bag the six had with them contained the head,heart, hands, feet, genitals and liver of a man in his twenties.
The arrests last month, which came after a tip-off from terrifiedresidents that the six were allegedly hawking human body parts,turned the spotlight on the darkest of South African practices.The police are convinced that the body parts were to be sold to asangoma
—
a traditional healer
—
to make muti, meaningmedicine. Some Africans believe that muti made with human bodyparts is the most potent of all.The four men and two women made a pre-trial appearanceyesterday. During two previous court appearances hundreds ofpeople demonstrated outside the court, threatening to kill theaccused if they were released on bail. All six are now being held inpolice cells for fear they would be murdered by fellow inmates ifthey were kept in the local Grootvlei prison.Abel Tubane, a protester outraged that the six are accused ofcommitting murder to make money from selling body parts, said:
“
You can sell oranges or apples to earn a living.
”
 Thandi Gulwa, another protester, was enraged that the accusedcould insult African traditions in such a way.
“
We use herbs to becured, not human flesh,
”
she said.But although muti killing is a taboo subject, the Bloemfontein caseis far from being an isolated incident. Two men and a womanrecently appeared in Khayekutsha Magistrates
’
Court, outsideCape Town, charged with killing a baby and frying her intestines tomake muti to help them to find a job.At about the same time, a young woman
’
s head was found floatingin a Johannesburg reservoir, fuelling speculation that she had beenkilled for her body parts. Last year police arrested a man after hewas caught trying to sell a head for
£
900 for use in traditionalmedicine.The South African police force boasts the world
’
s only specialisedmuti murder investigation force. Gerard Labuschagne, who is incharge of it, believes that as many as 300 such murders arecommitted every year.
“
Apart from a handful of high-profile cases, most muti murders gounreported,
”
Dr Labuschagne said.
“
They happen in South Africafairly regularly, at least once a month. But for many police officersthey are nothing unusual. They are just treated as another murder,so there are a lot of muti-related killings out there that never cometo our attention.
”
 Nor are they restricted to South Africa. In 2001 the torso of a boywas found in the Thames in London. Police arrested 21 people aspart of the investigation into what they believe was a ritual killing.For centuries herbs, roots, powders, tree bark, skins and animalentrails have been the stock in trade of Africa
’
s traditional healers.
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Dismissed as
“
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during the colonial andapartheid eras, African traditional medicine is undergoingsomething of a renaissance with Western scientists eager toexamine traditional herbal remedies in their quest for new drugs.
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