‘ARREST TINYANGA WHO CLEANSE CRIMINALS’

MBABANE – The public has questioned why tinyanga who ‘assist’ criminals are not arrested.

This question was raised after certain suspects claimed to have consulted tinyanga either before or after allegedly committing an offence. Makhanya Makhanya of the Eswatini Witchdoctor’s Association, noted that when you give criminals medicine or a concoction to cleanse themselves after they commit a crime, it was a criminal offence. Makhanya explained that the traditional healers who did this did not deserve to be called traditional healers. He explained that in their act, there was section 77 which stated that a person who gives a patient medication which was to hurt another, should be arrested.

“Those inyanga should be exposed because they do not have ancestral spirits, but they have ghost spirits which are bad. There are spirits of good which overcome the bad and that is why the suspects get caught,” Makhanya said. He said if an inyanga gave a person umklwebho to use on another, they should be charged and fined. Another inyanga confirmed that they attended to people who wanted to be cleansed after committing crimes. Babe Zwane said “It is only two of my clients who were arrested after they were cleansed and when I traced what happened, they had not followed my instructions. Others come and ask us for medicine to make them invisible when they go out to commit a crime.”

He said he always told them to return after committing the crime, so they could be cleansed and not get caught. Zwane explained that some came back and told him that during their criminal act, somebody died, but they could not report this to the police because of their ‘doctor/patient confidentiality’. “Sometimes we cannot tell the police in fear for our lives, because these people will serve time and come back to kill us.  Imagine if they catch you calling the police, they would kill you and escape,” Zwane said. A lawyer said when faced with such a predicament, it was wise to inform the police.

“It is not easy to say that the inyanga should be charged because it depends on their degree of participation. Do not be part and parcel of breaking the law willingly,” he said.
Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati said when they arrest suspects, they are taken to court where they make their confessions. It would be the court which decides if they should arrest these people or not.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: