A cleaner steals human placenta from a hospital, women have their body parts hacked off and are then brutally murdered.
These incidents have captured the nation's attention, raising the question of how prevalent are instances involving the theft of human body parts, often from people who are still alive.
Experts say they have seen a noticeable increase in such incidents in KwaZulu-Natal and across the country.
Former head of the Occult Unit of the SAPS in Pretoria Kobus Jonker said there has been a marked increase in the number of muti killings taking place around the country.
Jonker said the muti trade was a booming business, hence the increase in muti killings.
He said the most sought after body parts were the genitals of a young girl which are used to make powerful fertility potions.
"Women who are desperate to fall pregnant seek these potions. However all body parts are valuable and fetch large sums of money," he said.
Jonker said that the head was also valuable because witchdoctors and people believed that it was powerful and could cure many ailments.
People who have knowledge of muti and who spoke to the Daily News declined to reveal what various body parts are used for, saying they feared that people would use the information to harvest more body parts.
They said that the information often led to more muti related crimes.
In KwaZulu-Natal, poverty and human suffering are believed to be some of the reasons behind the rise in muti killings and witchcraft.
A muti expert, who wanted to remain anonymous, said muthi killings have been taking place for decades, but were never reported.
"These crimes are usually covered up or registered as murders. It's difficult to keep statistics on these crimes as most of them are never reported. However, there is definitely a lot more awareness now about muti-related crimes than before," he said.
President of the KwaZulu-Natal Traditional Healers Association Sazi Mhlongo said these incidents are giving the industry a bad name.
"We condemn them to the highest degree; government needs to speed up the registration process of traditional healers so we can root out charlatans.
Mhlongo said the use of human tissue for muti purposes was the work of witchdoctors and not traditional healers.
"Many people confuse a traditional healer with a witchdoctor; the healer's work is to heal while the witchdoctor may do other things that could be against the law.
"Traditional healers will never use body parts in any of their medications. We use only plants and sometimes animal tissue obtained with a licence and in accordance with the law.
Kara Heritage Institute director Dr Mathole Motshekga said the increase in witchcraft and muti-related crimes was the result of the socio-economic conditions that affect the majority of South Africans.
"Colonialism and apartheid caused people to feel hopeless and extremely vulnerable. This opened an opportunity for fraudsters to prey on these innocent people," he said.
He said people also looked for supernatural enlightenment to deal with their fears and uncertainty which arose from these situations.
Motshekga said that witchcraft and muti-related crimes posed a major challenge to the country.
"There is nothing wrong with religion and traditional healing. The problem arises when unscrupulous people take advantage of the poor," he said
A worrying trend is that of criminals going to sangomas for ritual ceremonies they believe will keep them out of jail.
A week ago in Johannesburg and Mthatha in the Eastern Cape gangs sought the help of sangomas to get away with crime.
Ten men were arrested at a sangoma's home in Ennerdale, south of Johannesburg, after they allegedly robbed a shop and shot dead a 70-year-old man.
They were nabbed minutes after laying their loot and guns before a sangoma for a ritual ceremony, police said. The sangoma was also arrested.
In another case in the Eastern Cape, four men were arrested at a sangoma's house for possession of unlicensed firearms. Police said the men were taken into custody while they were consulting a sangoma for a cleansing ceremony.
The four visited the sangoma for muti they believed would keep them from being arrested or from being convicted in court. They were arrested after they had used the muthi.
Commenting on these cases, Mhlongo said these people were probably practising illegally.
"Traditional healers will not encourage crime, so a legal sangoma will not be involved in assisting criminals," he said.