Traditional healer Jim Kgokong Shego had his genitals, his belly button and anus cut out for muti while he was still alive.
A rock was then tied around his waist and he was thrown into a mine shaft filled with water.
This was the evidence in the Pretoria High Court trial on Wednesday of four fellow traditional healers.
Traditional healers Jeremiah Africa Madonsela, 50, Elias Magabane, 55, April Mahlangu, 43, and Simon Leeu Ndala, 52, all pleaded not guilty to murdering Shego at Mountainview in KwaMhlanga, Mpumalanga, on June 7, 2000.
'Madonsela took the knife and cut out the man's testicles' John Msiza, who helped pin down Shego's legs while Madonsela allegedly removed his body parts, testified against the four accused in return for indemnity on Wednesday.
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Msiza was an apprentice traditional healer and an assistant of Shego. Msiza said the four accused abducted him at gunpoint on the day of the murder.
They apparently took him to the home of Shego where the latter was shot in the leg and taken to an open veld.
"Madonsela took out a knife and he ordered us to pin Shego's legs wide open." Msiza said two of them held open his legs while two more pinned his shoulders to the ground.
"Madonsela took the knife and cut out the man's testicles. He then cut around his navel and took it out. He also cut around his anus and took that tissue out," Msiza testified.
'Witch doctors' used human flesh for their muti He said Shego cried and asked them whether they were killing him.
After the human flesh was placed in a plastic bag, Madonsela ordered them to tie a rock around the man's waist.
Shego, who was still breathing, was thrown into a mine shaft filled with water.
Asked by the state what the motive for the killing was, Msiza said it was because Shego's herbal practice did much better than that of his rivals. Shego could "cure Aids" and he saw about 40 patients a day.
He also told the court that "witch doctors" used human flesh for their muti. The flesh had to be removed while the victim was still alive, or else it would not work, Msiza said.
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This article was originally published on page 3 of Cape Argus on May 22, 2003
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