In the chaotic last years of apartheid - the regime crumbling, local authorities in turmoil, violence a constant threat - there were outbreaks of witch-hunting and medicine murder in what was then the northern Transvaal. Hundreds of suspected witches were burnt to death. In 1988, a medicine murder scandal precipitated the fall of the government of the Venda Bantustan. There were 15 suspicious killings within a month of the mysterious death of the state president, himself a notorious medicine murderer, and gangs of youths were roaming the streets shouting: 'Death to the ritual murderers!'

LRB 6 July 2006 | PDF Download