MALAMULELE – Police management in Limpopo have expressed concern over continued incidents of ritual murders, with the latest being that of a 16-year-old girl whose mutilated body was found next to the Shingwedzi river.

In a statement on Friday, police spokesperson, Brigadier Motlafela Mojapelo, said: “The police management in the Limpopo province is perturbed by unrelenting incidents of ritual murders that have become the scourge that requires strong partnerships with all stakeholders.

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“In the latest incident, the police in Malamulele have launched a massive manhunt after the mutilated body of a 16-year-old girl was found in the bushes next to Shingwedzi river today. The deceased, Rithandzu Manganyi, from Gumbani village in Malamulele policing area, went missing on 2017-07-02 at about 13:00 when she left her home to relieve herself in the nearby bushes next to the river.

“She never returned and subsequent searches yielded no positive results. Her dismembered body was found by young boys when they went for fishing in the same river. The motive for this murder is unknown but ritual murder cannot be ruled out.”

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Mojapelo said similar incidents in which people, especially women, went missing and were later found dead, had become a “worrying factor”, especially in the Vhembe and Mopano districts.

“The Provincial Commissioner of the South African Police in Limpopo, Lieutenant General Nneke Ledwaba is making a call upon all our communities to rally around and isolate these merciless and faceless individuals who seem to be hellbent on destroying the moral fibre of our society and create fear in the minds of peaceful and progressive South Africans. The police will not rest until all perpetrators and their accomplices are brought to book.”

African News Agency