THE arrest of a Leribe man accused of murdering a woman for ritual purposes should shake the conscience of the nation far beyond the horror of one brutal crime. According to police, the suspect allegedly acted on instructions from a traditional healer, who promised him M29 000 in exchange for harvesting the woman’s breasts for ritual trade.
While public outrage has understandably focused on the suspect himself, the more uncomfortable truth is that the crime is that the man murdered the woman. The allegations that the traditional healer ordered the man to harvest the breast is also a crime. They both conspired to commit murder.
This case exposes a deeply troubling pattern that can no longer be dismissed as isolated madness or individual moral failure. The alleged confession—that the suspect was sent by a traditional healer, lured the victim with false job prospects, raped her and killed her—reveals a calculated chain of events rooted in ritual belief and greed.
When traditional healers solicit or encourage violence, they are not passive bystanders. They are architects of crime. Justice must therefore pursue not only those who commit the physical act of murder, but also those who conspire, instruct and profit from it.
This is not an isolated case. In November last year, two men from Semonkong—Mokone Ntsane and Lehlohonolo Thinyane—murdered a 40-year-old man after a traditional healer allegedly told them the victim was responsible for the mysterious deaths of their sheep. Instead of advising lawful remedies or rational inquiry, the healer’s words allegedly became a death sentence. The result was another life lost, justified under the cloak of superstition and spiritual authority.
Barely a month earlier, in October, the country was horrified by yet another ritual-related killing. A 23-year-old man, Relebohile Tjomane, strangled his 13-year-old sister to death to obtain her saliva—an ingredient allegedly demanded by a traditional healer in exchange for M2 000. The sheer brutality of killing a child, let alone a sibling, underscores the destructive power of belief when it is exploited by unscrupulous individuals claiming spiritual insight.
Taken together, these cases form a chilling pattern. Vulnerable people—often poor, desperate or fearful—are manipulated into committing unspeakable acts by those who claim supernatural authority. The killers are promised money, protection, success or solutions to personal problems. In the process, human life is reduced to a commodity. This is not traditional healing as many Basotho understand it; it is criminal enterprise dressed in cultural language.
The law already provides for this. Conspiracy to commit murder, incitement to violence and being an accessory before the fact are well-established criminal offences. When a healer instructs someone to kill, specifies the body parts required and promises payment, that healer is not practising culture—they are conspiring to murder.
Charging only the person who wields the weapon sends a dangerous message: that those who give the orders can hide behind tradition, silence or fear. It also fuels recurrence. As long as healers believe they can recruit killers with impunity, ritual murders will continue to surface, each one more gruesome than the last. Accountability must climb the chain, not stop at its weakest link.
At the same time, this crisis demands honest national reflection. Traditional medicine has long coexisted with modern health systems in Lesotho and across Africa. Many practitioners operate ethically and reject violence outright. They too are victims when criminal elements hijack their profession and stain it with blood. Strong regulation, registration and oversight of traditional healers is therefore not an attack on culture, but a defence of it.
Communities also have a role to play. Families must question, not blindly accept, instructions that demand secrecy, harm or payment for human body parts. Churches, schools and civic leaders must speak openly against ritual killings and the myths that sustain them. Silence and fear only strengthen those who trade in death.
Ultimately, the Leribe case is a test of resolve. Will the justice system confront the full network behind ritual murders, or will it once again settle for punishing the hand that struck while sparing the mind that planned? If the authorities are serious about ending this deadly trend, then traditional healers who conspire to kill must be arrested, charged and convicted like any other criminal. Anything less is an invitation for the next promise, the next victim and the next headline written in blood.
A test for our democracy