THE PETROL attendants spent their night shift listening to terrifying sounds from the graveyard.
They saw flames in the distance and heard singing and the sound of a chicken in agony.
But they were not prepared for what they found the next morning.
When their shift ended in the morning and they passed the gravesite in Lenasia South, south of Joburg, they found an unnamed grave with bottles of muthi, booze bottles and the remains of a dead chicken suspended over a burnt out fire.
A black chicken was hanging by its neck from a rope attached to a wire like a washing line between two poles. Its feet were tied together.
It had clearly been burnt alive.
It is not clear who the grave belongs to as the grave itself was not marked.
One of the petrol attendants told Daily Sun: “This is pure witchcraft. Who would do such a thing to the dead? Who are they trying to harm?”
He said the colour black signified death.
“We fear crossing here as well because we don’t know what these people are up to. It is the time of year when one can expect this kind of thing.”
Sangoma Precious Sithole said this is clearly witchcraft.
“Firstly, a black chicken means bad luck,” she said.
“In this instance the spirit of the person is being disturbed.
The practice of a hanged chicken with muthi indicates that the spirit has being forcefully taken so that it can be used for bad things. Most of the times the spirit becomes a tokoloshe which will be controlled by its captor.”
Jenny Moodley of Joburg’s City Parks said there are two types of cemeteries recognised by the department.
“Firstly there are the well-known burial sites such as Avalon Cemetery and Westbury Cemetery,” she said.
“We also have burial sites from long ago which are now being turned into heritage sides but are still recognised as graveyards.”
She said these abandoned cemeteries are mostly on privately owned land.
“We call them farm cemeteries and usually the owners of the land are hard to reach or died a long time ago. In this situation City Parks will investigate to try and establish the background.”
