INLSA
Members of the Senior Citizen Forum protest outside the Ntuzuma Magistrates Court during the bail application of 11 people accused of killing an elderly couple for alleged witchcraft. Picture: Doctor Ngcobo
The bail application of 10 men and one woman charged with the murder of an elderly couple earlier this month was postponed in the Ntuzuma Magistrate’s Court yesterday.
Elsa Dubazane, 63, of Lindelani, near Ntuzuma, was burnt to death by a mob in her home while her seven-year-old grandson cried and begged the mob to leave her alone.
He was pulled from the blaze by the mob, but his pleas fell on deaf ears.
Dubazane’s husband, Raphael Zukhulu, 63, managed to escape from the burning house.
However, the mob caught him a few metres away from the house, put a tyre around his neck and set it alight.
Originally, 10 people appeared at the Ntuzuma Magistrate’s Court last week.
Two of the 11 suspects accused of burning an elderly couple to death make their way to court for their bail hearing. Picture: Doctor Ngcobo
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However, the police made a breakthrough, arresting another man, and 11 appeared yesterday.
The accused in the case cannot be named because doing so could jeopardise the investigation.
In the days before the couple’s death, their house was ransacked by a mob looking for a baboon that had allegedly been used for witchcraft.
The mob also alleged that the couple had buried their 16-year-old granddaughter, Zakude Shozi, in their yard because the community had not seen her funeral.
Shozi died in the Mahatma Gandhi Hospital in Phoenix.
However, even after Dubazane showed them the death certificate and a receipt from a funeral parlour the mob still attacked and assaulted her and Zukhulu.
They returned to kill the couple later.
Yesterday, a police spokesman, Captain Thulani Zwane, said that more arrests were likely to be made.
Protest
In the packed courtroom, the magistrate ruled that the case had to be postponed for the investigating officer to verify the alternative addresses of the accused if they received bail.
The 11 accused will remain in custody until their next court appearance on February 8.
Outside the court, angry relatives gathered and demanded answers from the police.
A small group of Senior Citizen Forum members also gathered to protest outside the court. They sang songs and held placards and posters reading: “No elderly abuse. We will fight until the end. No bail. Ugogo wami, ugogo wakho nawe. (My grandmother is your grandmother.)”
Leading the protests was the forum’s chairwoman, Patricia Ballantyne.
She said that the youth needed to take care of their elders.
“I was hurt by the incident, and as the forum we are here to voice ourselves and disagree with what happened to the two elderly people,” she said.
“We want to raise awareness that the youth must treat the elderly with care.”
Queeneth Mkhabela-Castiano, an acting general manager at the KwaZulu-Natal premier’s office, said Zukhulu’s funeral had already taken place.
“We are trying to locate Dubazane’s family so that we can organise a funeral,” she said.
“The grandchild is in a safe place.”
She added that her office was working with the police.
“Their house is vacant and we do not want people to abuse it,” said Mkhabela-Castiano.
