Supply and Demand

The research performed by the Mozambican Human Rights League showed that there was a link between Muti and business, in other words, trafficking body parts is part of the supply and demand business of Muti. These Muti practices that are prevalent in South Africa and Mozambique are a cultural belief that body parts will make the medicine more effective and that it can solve any problem, ranging from poverty to health issues. The research interviews showed that so-called witchdoctors have a firm belief themselves that human body parts are needed for strong Muti. Witchdoctors, usually through a third party, actively seek human body parts from live victims.

Also, from the results of this research it seemed that, when linking Mozambique and South Africa, the movement of body parts was always from Mozambique to South Africa, which means that Mozambique acts as a supplier and South Africa as a recipient. A woman working as a stall holder on the South African side of the border said “I saw a human head on top of some vegetables that were inside those big bags they use to carry goods […] It was the head of a child […] someone was trying to take the head from Mozambique to South Africa”. There was also the account of an “old lady” who was attacked and beheaded in Mozambique. The head was found in “Tsatsimbe River where they crushed the head to remove the brain” which was said to have been taken to South Africa. The interviewer heard 3 separate firsthand accounts of this incident, from a Policeman, a Community Member and a Neighbourhood Secretary. And, finally, an informant confirmed that the three cases that she reported were about body parts being moved from Mozambique to South Africa.