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A traditional healer from KwaZulu-Natal has been sentenced to two life terms in prison for the rape of two women in 2019 after performing cleansing ceremonies on them.
Mandla Dlamini from KwaDabeka, Durban, appeared in the Pinetown Regional Court, where he was found guilty of rape and kidnapping.
In two separate incidents, Dlamini lured his victims under the pretence of cleansing them.
His first victim was a woman he met at a taxi rank in Port Shepstone. After performing a cleansing ceremony at her home in Ixopo, he convinced the woman’s family to let her go with him to the beach in Durban for further cleansing.
“After the second cleansing, the victim was taken to Dlamini’s home in Claremont outside Pinetown, where she was given a traditional concoction to drink and subsequently felt dizzy and passed out. When she regained consciousness, she realised she had been raped, and she opened a rape case at KwaDabeka SAPS,” said police spokesperson Captain Nqobile Gwala on Wednesday.
His second victim was a 27-year-old woman.
“She was locked in Dlamini’s home for several days and given a concoction to drink which made her dizzy and led to her collapsing. She eventually managed to escape and opened a rape case at KwaDabeka SAPS,” Gwala added.
Dlamini was arrested in Durban after boarding a taxi from Empangeni to meet a client.
He was sentenced last Wednesday and received an additional five years for kidnapping.
