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September 2005
    CMAX Prison, Pretoria
     
    Detective Tshabalala (DT): We know you were involved in the Kei Ripper killings, Mr. Zulu. Why don’t you start there?
    Bongani Zulu (BZ): That all came out in court.
    DT: Yes, but we’d like to hear it from you, directly.
    BZ: I’m already serving time for that. You can’t make me say anything to incriminate myself.
    DT: Think of it more like an exercise in opening up. You tell us what you know, and then we’ll tell you what we know.
    BZ: Why don’t you read the papers from court? They have everything there. Or the newspapers?
    DT: I need to ask you some of my own questions. We’re trying to protect children. Your experience can make a big difference to us.
    BZ: Okay, I will tell you. I was looking for work. It’s hard in the Transkei. Lots of people, no jobs. A man came to me and said he was looking for someone who could do this thing. That it had to be someone strong.
    DT: Who was the man who came to you?
    BZ: I don’t know. He told me his name was Stompie, because one of his arms was missing at the elbow. He said I must go with him. That we would go to the sangoma and he would give me something to make me strong.
    DT: Muti ?
    BZ: Ja.
    DT: Did you go?
    BZ: I went. He took me to the sangoma’s house. We smoked dagga together and then the sangoma told me what he wanted me to do.
    DT: Which was?
    BZ: He said he needed to make muti , and he needed me to get the parts. He offered me a lot of money. Three thousand rand. I could feed my family for a long time with that much money. He said he would give me something to smoke, and rub something on my skin that would make me invincible so that nothing could hurt me.
    DT: Why did Stompie come to you with this? He could have the money for himself.
    BZ: He only had one hand. You can’t use a knife with one hand. Not the way you need to.
    DT: Did you agree to get the parts?
    BZ: Ja, I said I would do it.
    DT: What happened then?
    BZ: We ate some food while the sangoma prepared the muti . Stompie left after we ate. The sangoma gave me two cigarettes to smoke, one for before I took the parts, and one for after. He told me to take off all my clothes and he rubbed something into my skin. It was thick, like fat, and red.
    DT: Do you think the sangoma made it with blood?
    BZ: I don’t know. But it was dark red. He rubbed it all over me and told me not to wash until I had brought him the things he wanted.
    DT: Did you leave then?
    BZ: No, I told him I was not ready. That this thing was wrong and my ancestors would punish me and my family. It was wrong to do it. He told me he would speak to my ancestors and they would understand. I told him to do it before I left. We smoked dagga again and he threw the bones for me. He said my ancestors were at peace, that they told him it was okay because I was looking after my family. He gave me a knife and said I must use it to take the parts.
    DT: What did you do then?
    BZ: I knew a place in the forest where the children like to play. I walked there. I saw four boys in front of me as I walked. They were going to the forest. I smoked one of the cigarettes the sangoma had given me and followed them.
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER EIGHT
     
     
    Twenty-four hours.
    Twenty-four hours had passed since I’d pressed my lips to Lindsey’s cheek. Now her side of the bed was cold and empty. The birds started chirping outside the window like they did every morning, filling the cold, grey air with noise. I pulled the blanket over my head and buried my face in Lindsey’s pillow.
    It smelled of her hair. She’d been born with a shock of dark hair, just like her father’s. It had fallen out before she was six months old, and her characteristic white-blond hair had grown in. I’d spent hours brushing and plaiting it into braids that hung down her back. I could almost feel the soft strands between my fingers now.
    Tears stung the insides of my eyelids and I sobbed. My whole body shook with the force of my