'Witch' teachers set alight
05/09/2007 10:47 - (SA)

Johannesburg - Two women were burnt to death in what police believe was an attempt by pupils to rid a northern KwaZulu-Natal school of evil spirits, police said on Wednesday.

Police spokesperson Captain Jabulani Mdletshe said a huge group of youths had dragged the two 60-year-old women - Mangubane Msaba Zungu and Qibile Thabitha Thusi - from their home to a local sports field.

There, they doused them with petrol and set them alight.

Zungu died at the scene and Thusi later died at hospital.

Mdletshe said pupils from Manhlenga High School in Manguzi near Kosi Bay had started "acting strangely" since August 17.

"Many of the pupils started crying for no apparent reason. Some claimed they wanted meat during their crying," the captain explained.

They believed that an evil spirit had possessed them.

"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," he said.

"We are investigating the pupils but no arrests have been made as yet. We will also be speaking to the school management," said Mdletshe.