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South African students burn 2 women as witches
Reuters
September 5, 2007 at 6:27 AM EDT
JOHANNESBURG — Two South African women were burnt to death by a group of students who suspected the victims had bewitched their high school with evil spirits, the South African Press Association reported on Wednesday.
The 60-year-old women, identified as Mangubane Msaba Zungu and Qibile Thabitha Thusi, were dragged from their homes near Manguzi in KwaZulu-Natal province and taken to a sports field by students from Manhlenga High School, police told SAPA.
There they were doused with petrol and set alight, police said. Ms. Zungu died at the scene and Ms. Thusi later in hospital.
Investigators said the murders followed several weeks of strange behaviour by the students, who had complained of inexplicable crying fits and sudden cravings to eat meat during school hours.
“There were apparently a few meetings held by the pupils to discuss the matter. At one of the meetings, it was allegedly suggested that two women may have bewitched the school,” Capt. Jabulani Mdletshe, a police spokesman, told SAPA.
No arrests have been made, Capt. Mdletshe said.
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