IT will soon be two years now, but the memories of the brutal murder of the National Institute of Public Administration (NIPA) student Ruth Mbandu are still fresh.
This is so, because of the manner in which the precious life of the 19-year-old student was taken away.
The Mbandu murder went into history as one of the bloodiest murder in Zambia which left many Zambians in shock and to the present day want justice to take its course.
Ruth had her facial skin peeled off, her eyes plucked out and her body dumped a few metres away from her mother’s house in Emmasdale.
In the same year 2012, but towards the end, another murder was recorded in Lusaka, and this involved a taxi driver by the name of Mathews Chipili.
The late Mr Chipili, who died at the age of 20, was discovered with his facial skin peeled off, his throat cut-open and left eye and tongue gouged out.
Of course there were other murders which were recorded during this period which have not been referred to.
It is saddening that these ritual killings which had seemingly stopped have resurfaced.
This week Haggai Temba of Misisi Township was brutally slain in a suspected ritual murder with his private parts, heart and tongue plucked out by assailants who later dumped his body in a quarry in Lusaka’s Kamwala South.
The body also had the throat slit, a deep hole on the left side of the chest and another deep cut on the right side of the cheek with both wrists bruised.
Police should, however, be commended for moving in fast and arresting four men who were found with male private parts in connection with the gruesome murder.
This will act as a serious breakthrough in the investigations of ritual murders.
We are still waiting for the medical tests to ascertain whether the private parts the four men were found with belong to the late Mr Temba or someone else.
But what is key here is that these four were found with male private organs. These people should be made to account for their actions and be able to tell the police where they got them from.
This will provide credible information on which the law enforcement agencies can act on and be able to get to the bottom of these murders which are likely to continue happening in the capital city or any
other towns.
The public will be closely following this case to its logical conclusion to hear what the quartet would have to say on how they were found with male organs of a human being and where they were taking them when the matter is taken to court.
One thing for sure is that they had these items and they should be able to explain how they acquired them.
Another measure that ought to be put in place by police especially in big cities like Lusaka is to increase night patrols in the townships.
This is the only way police would pounce on outlaws who freely attack citizens.
It has become habitual for gangs to attack people who walk or drive at night in Lusaka. People are attacked at their gates as they try to enter or as they drive through townships.
It is high time that the police should act to clump down on all criminality. People should feel free to move at anytime of the day and night to do their businesses.
But the biggest problem for now is for police to get to the bottom of the suspected ritual murders before another life is lost.
For now there is enough evidence on which a breakthrough can be made and we expect police to work professionally.
It is expected that in such cases there are ‘big fish’ that use the poor people as pawns to supply them with vital human organs. These too are the people police should target and we implore the police
command to follow such cases with keen interest so that culprits are brought to book.
It’s only until such people are smoked out that the country would win the war against these brutal murders. OPINION