Rotting corpse found in sangoma’s house

Published Nov 17, 2014

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Kimberley - Witchcraft has been blamed for the death of a 21-year-old Barkly West woman, whose foul-smelling, pitch-black corpse was found in the house of a local sangoma.

Cynthia Kelebogile was almost unrecognisable to family members, who on Friday found her half-naked corpse on the floor of a filthy room in the house of a local woman, known to be a sangoma.

They last saw her on October 6, when the female sangoma apparently took her in to conduct sangoma training, after Kelebogile’s forefathers (according to the sangoma) “wanted her to become a prophet”.

Kelebogile’s father, George Segola, 62, was the first to be called by the sangoma after his daughter’s death.

“The woman called me and said I should come to her house urgently. After running there I arrived to find my daughter’s body ice-cold and stiff. She was dressed in only a skirt and lay bare-breasted on the floor. She looked like a skeleton,” Segola said.

“The woman said that Cynthia had eaten soap and coins and that she was too late to stop her. She added that she called me as soon as the incident happened and I was there within minutes, but I could see that Cynthia had been dead for a long time.”

He added that he gave permission for his daughter to undergo sangoma training but started worrying when the sangoma denied him contact with his daughter, adding that he last saw her on October 6.

“She did give us regular reports about Cynthia and she said my daughter was doing well and she was in a healthy condition - which was obviously a lie,” Segola added.

Kelebogile brother, Ivan Segola, said he did not recognise his sister when he was called to the sangoma’s house.

“My sister was a healthy girl who never got sick but I did not recognise her when I saw her corpse, as she resembled a skeleton. Her normally light skin had mysteriously turned pitch black and the most vilest smell was coming from her body. Her eyes stared in different directions and her hair stood upright. I believe her death could only have been as a result of witchcraft,” he brother said.

He added that the room where his sister was found was extremely filthy and smelled worse that an open pit toilet. The family suspects that Kelebogile was locked in the room for weeks, as no member of the community saw her. A bucket of urine was found next to her. The house of the sangoma is only two houses from her father’s house.

Community members reacted with shock as news of Kelebogile’s death spread.

“Cynthia was a good person and a child of Christ. She was always seen walking around with, and reading from, the Bible in the streets of Rooirandt (Barkly West). We are still not able to understand how she died right here among us, while no-one suspected anything,” residents said.

The songoma, who sat in the littered-filled house where Kelebogile’s body was found, refused to speak to the media.

The Barkly West police are investigating an inquest.

Police spokesman, Lieutenant Donald Mdhuli said they are investigating the cause of death.

“The circumstances surrounding her death are not known and a post-mortem will be conducted to determine the cause of death,” Mdhuli said.

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