Villagers 'celebrate' rapist's death

VILLAGERS in Tsukuru area in Madlambuzi are "celebrating the death" of serial rapist Limukani Sibanda who had caused a school in the area to virtually shut down as parents feared for their children's safety.

Sibanda is suspected to have committed suicide after his decomposed body was recently found hanging from a tree near his rural home.

He is suspected to have died about three weeks before his body was discovered. Sibanda raped a Grade 7 pupil who was on her way to write examinations and throttled her leaving her for dead.

An hour later he raped his friend's 42-year-old mother and broke both her arms with a log and later raped his ex-girlfriend. His brutal attacks sparked a frantic manhunt led by police officers with dogs.

Villagers told Chronicle that while death could never be celebrated, they had to express relief as they were concerned about their safety and that of their children during Sibanda's reign of terror.

Villagers said their children, who had stopped attending lessons, have now started going to school. Parents had stopped their children from going to Tsukuru Primary which is 20 kilometres from their area following Sibanda's vicious attacks.

Women from the area also expressed their relief as they have now gone back to performing their normal day-to-day chores. Some men from the village confessed that they were also "happy" because they also feared the serial rapist who was roaming the area.

Luzibo Khumalo said her children returned to school during the last week of October.

"I felt that my children were not safe because that serial rapist was at large. Even though my neighbours were allowing their children to attend school I just could not. "I've allowed them to go to school because I realised that they were missing out on their school work. With the rapist gone, there is no reason to continue keeping them at home," said Khumalo.

Another villager, Sylvia Dube, said she stopped fetching firewood in the bush after the serial rapist attacked people in her village. She said she had confined her activities to the area surrounding her homestead. Dube said the women from her area had resorted to fetching water in the company of men out of fear of being raped.

Dube said the death of Sibanda had brought "unbelievable comfort" to villagers.

"It's difficult to move around knowing the enemy is out there and can attack you any time. The life that we were forced to live because of that boy's actions was pathetic. We were living in fear for sure," she said.

The village head, Doubt Moyo, said order had been restored within the community because the feared assailant was gone.

He said the community had selected a member of the neighbourhood watch committee to accompany groups of children who were still going to school when Sibanda was on the rampage.

"The children are now going to school on their own since Limukani's body was discovered. All the Grade 7 pupils from our area remained housed by teachers at Tsukuru Primary School until they finished the examinations because we didn't know where the serial rapist was at the time," he said.

Moyo said following Sibanda's vicious attacks on villagers they organised a team of villagers to hunt him down.

He said they gave up after a week, concluding he had fled the country.