Three suspected cannibals have been arrested in the rural KwaZulu-Natal Midlands.
Apparently one walked into the Estcourt police station on Friday night, told the officers on duty he was “tired of eating human flesh” and subsequently produced part of a human leg and a hand.
It is understood that investigations led police to a house in nearby Rensburgdrift, where more human remains were found.
The man who had gone to the police station was arrested. A second suspect was arrested in Estcourt and a third suspect - thought to be an inyanga - was arrested in the Amangwe area. The three are all in their thirties.
They allegedly killed a woman, cut her up and ate parts of her body.
Police spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbhele yesterday confirmed the men were arrested on charges relating to murder and cannibalism.
She said they would appear in the Estcourt Magistrate’s Court today.
The former head of the SAPS specialised investigative psychology section, Professor Gérard Labuschagne, said it was unlikely this was a muti-related crime.
“It’s rare and unusual to get a case where people are actually eating human body parts - animal bites are often mistaken for human bites. But when people are eating human body parts, it’s more likely to do with a mental health issue."
Labuschagne said people who ate human body parts were often in the throes of psychotic episodes at the time.
“They are usually experiencing audio and/or visual hallucinations and having bizarre thoughts like: ‘I must eat this body part, it will make me powerful'.”
Labuschagne said the suggestion that this was a group crime was strange.
“You do sometimes get a group of people, where one is mentally ill and his followers have dependency issues. It’s very rare though.”