People Killed Because Of Lobola. “We sat down with both families and their respective villagers.”
Claims of barren people have turned into the deaths of 16 individuals. This caused a number of people in Bizana, a rural area in Eastern Cape, to move away from their residents. The murder spree started when Peliwe Mantywaki had to return home because she could not conceive.
Mantywaki failed after numerous years of being in a marriage. A year ago, a group of males was sent to go fetch the cows that were issued to the family as part of the lobola, it was four cows. Five of the males were killed when they went. The five men were killed with bush knives (pangas) and assegais.
iNkosi Gcinusapho Mphetshwa, the chief from the husband’s village, says the husband sent nine armed attackers to the wife’s village to go get back the cows that he used to pay lobola. In 2018, Mphetshwa said that he involved himself in the altercation in an attempt to solve the requests of the husband’s side of the family. The husband’s family wanted the cows back.
“We sat down with both families and their respective villagers. After discussions, the wife’s family agreed to pay back the lobolo of four cows, the same number paid for her…,” says Mphetshwa.
The husband’s family did not want the cows that were given to them because they were not the same size as the ones they offered. They said that the cows that the wife’s family offered were thin. The husband’s family says they offered them thick cows. The five men that were killed were buried in a large-scale funeral.
“We have never heard of a situation where families disagree over lobolo to a point that people die,” says iNkosi Zanocwangco Gazula, the chief of the wife’s village.
Gazula says this is a shame for their culture. He does not believe that people would kill one another for their lobolo because it was supposed to unify the two sides. Currently, 11 men have now been killed, making it 16 men killed. The five men who were previously killed were mutilated.
by Alexandra Ramaite
