Marikana sangoma case postponed

Published May 17, 2013

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Durban - The case against a man allegedly linked to the murder of the sangoma responsible for the rituals performed on Marikana mineworkers has been postponed, the NPA said on Friday.

The 28-year-old man was expected to bring a formal bail application in the Bizana Magistrate's Court on May 23, National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Luxolo Tyali said. Tyali could not provide the man's name.

The Hawks arrested the man, from KwaMaphumulo, outside Pietermaritzburg, at Durban's KwaMashu hostel on Tuesday night.

The sangoma, Alton Zikhuthele Joja, 69, also known as Ndzabe, was at his home in the Ludeke Holt village, in Mbizana, Eastern Cape, when five men armed with pistols and rifles entered his homestead on March 24. They shot him when he approached their car, then fled.

The vehicle was later found abandoned and burnt out, with a rifle inside. Joja died on arrival at a local hospital. He had been expected to testify at the Marikana Commission of Inquiry regarding his role in the rituals that apparently caused protesters to believe they would be invisible and invincible in the face of gunfire.

The commission is investigating the circumstances surrounding the police's killing of 34 striking mineworkers near Lonmin's platinum mine in Marikana on August 16, and the deaths the previous week of 10 people, including two policemen, in strike-related unrest. - Sapa

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