Ngcobo undergoes cleansing rituals

Traditional and religious ceremonies aim to give crime-riddled town new start

Religious leaders and traditional healers performed prayers and rituals at the weekend to cleanse the town of Ngcobo of its “demons” and reputation as a crime hotspot. The massive cleansing ceremony, hosted by provincial Safety and Liaison MEC Weziwe Tikana and provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General Liziwe Ntshinga, started on Friday night. About 20 traditional healers slaughtered a black goat, before visiting the Ngcobo police station, as well as the controversial Seven Angels Ministries church in Nyanga village and the R61 where two police officers were hijacked and killed by armed gunmen last month. They also performed rituals where three police officers from North West died after their vehicle hit a horse, just a few days after the murder of five police members and an off-duty soldier in Ngcobo. The healers, led by Nxoboni “Bhekiyeza” Mziwentsini, 78, also went up the mountain behind the church, which has now been shut down. At about 4am on Saturday, a white goat was slaughtered and eaten. Mziwentsini said the black goat symbolised a dark cloud that had engulfed Ngcobo. “We then slaughtered a white goat afterwards to show that the dark cloud had been cast away and a new light had dawned for the people of Ngcobo,” he said. Yesterday, it was the turn of religious leaders to perform their own rituals. They also prayed at the same sites, including the Seven Angels Ministries, which was run by seven Mancoba brothers. Three of them – Philile, Xolisa and Thandazile – died in a gun battle between the police and people allegedly linked to the murder of the five police members. Three other brothers – Banele, Ephraim and Phuthumile – were among the church members arrested in the aftermath of the shooting.

The seventh son, Benjamin, was sitting on the “stoep” of one of the houses when an entourage comprising police, clergy, residents and traditional healers arrived to conduct rituals yesterday. His mother remained inside in her bedroom. Benjamin said later he was pained by what had befallen his family. “The pain is just too much. I am trying to think things through, but I can’t,” he said. Both Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Fikile Xasa and Ntshinga, in an address to more than 1 000 people who had converged at the Nyanga High School for the main prayer service, described the cleansing ceremony as a new start for Ngcobo. However Xasa, filling in for Tikana, who arrived late at the main prayer service, lamented the fact that the government had failed to act when the Mancoba brothers’ church was first raided by police and social workers in 2016. “To deny children education was a declaration of war, we should have responded to that back then,” he said. The Mancoba brothers – following the raid on their premises where about 23 children, most without any documentation, were rescued by social workers and police – had confirmed publicly that they did not encourage anyone to go to school. Ntshinga said they had started instituting some short-term measures at the Ngcobo police station to prevent another ambush. These included locking the main gate at night and providing additional personnel to assist at the station. “People who want to be helped at night will have to yell outside,” he said.