Villagers burn man after wife was found hanging from tree

A 64-year old man in Limpopo, a province in South Africa, was set alight and later admitted to a local hospital after an angry mob accused him of being responsible for the death of his wife. 

Police spokesperson Col Moatshe Ngoepe said villagers went on a rampage after the body of 60-year-old Phosa Egnes Maswanganyi, who went missing on Tuesday, October 27, was discovered hanging from a tree in the nearby bushes.

She was found hanging on Wednesday night.

“The residents then accused the deceased’s husband and his friend of being involved in her disappearance and death. Subsequent to that, they torched the husband’s two rondavel houses and thereafter set him alight,” he said.

Ngoepe said the husband was badly injured and taken to hospital for medical treatment.

“The Giyani police together with the public order police [Pops] unit responded quickly to the scene. The crowd had already left and moved to the other house which they tried to burn too. The police responded swiftly and managed to stop them,” Ngoepe said.

“We cannot allow this kind of behaviour to rule our province where people still ignore our call to work with us and refrain from taking the law into their own hands. The suspects must be hunted down and brought to book,” said Ledwaba.

Provincial Police commissioner, Lt-Gen Nneke Ledwaba, condemned in the strongest possible terms the brutal attack.

Cases of arson and attempted murder were opened.

The police have launched a massive manhunt for the suspects involved in this matter.

Police investigations are still continuing.