A Limpopo man allegedly strangled his grandmother after accusing her of witchcraft.
Sayina Florah Baloyi’s (74) body was found late Friday night in her home in the Hlanganani settlement outside Elim.
Brig. Limpopo police spokesperson Motlafela Mojapelo says the woman’s neighbors let the police know something was not right at her house.
A huge search was launched for the 19-year-old man and he was arrested early Sunday morning.
Nkakareng Rakgoale, MEC for social development in Limpopo, condemned the murder. In a statement, she expressed her concern about the gruesome killings of women and children in Limpopo over the past two weeks.
Last week, a grandmother, Paulina Mafifi (67), and two of her grandchildren, Nathaniel Mafifi (9) and Selaelo Mafifi (7), were found in a pool of blood in Paulina’s house in the Maokeng settlement in Senwabarwana outside Polokwane. .
The killer (s) are still at large.
The Mafifi killings came shortly after a 43-year-old man shot dead his 38-year-old girlfriend and her 27-year-old niece in a family-run game in Namakgale outside Phalaborwa.
The man also shot his 16-year-old daughter after she filed a rape charge against him with police on Monday. She was seriously injured. The man then shot himself dead.
“Women, children and the elderly are supposed to be nurtured by their families and the communities in which they live,” says Rakgoale.
The 19-year-old man will appear in the Tiyani Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday on a charge of murder.
Rakgoale says she does not want him to get bail. “We can not afford to see our elderly killed.”
Limpopo Premier Stan Mathabatha last week instructed Rakgoale to put together a task force and, in collaboration with the police, bring an end to violence against women, children and the elderly.
