Soldier arrested after Port St Johns arson attack that destroyed dozens of homes

A group of Bhuje Junior Secondary School learners return from school. Ahead of them are some of the torched homesteads. School uniforms were burnt in houses set alight by a mob of about 200 men. (Photo: Hoseya Jubase).

By Hoseya Jubase

25 Jan 2023

A 57-year-old soldier will appear in court on Thursday, 26 January in connection with the arson attack on a Port St Johns village that destroyed at least 49 homesteads.

A police task team set up to investigate a string of arson attacks and shootings in Bhuje village in Port St Johns, linked to faction fighting in the area, arrested a 57-year-old soldier in Mthatha on Tuesday.

arson damage Makutela Malungile Msikwa (59) shows the damage after the attack on her house in Bhuje village. (Photo: Hoseya Jubase)

arson damage Bhuje The aftermath of the arson attack in a Bhuje village home after the arson attack which left about 49 houses torched in Port St John’s, Eastern Cape. (Photo: Hoseya Jubase)

The Eastern Cape provincial commissioner, Lieutenant-General Nomthetheleli Mene, praised the investigation task team’s work.

“My concern is the root cause of these faction fights. We must put a stop to these unwarranted killings and destruction of property… The arrested suspect must point us to more culprits because we believe he could not execute this ugly work alone in those villages,” Mene said.

arson Bhuje Destroyed homes after the arson attack on Bhuje Village. (Photo: Hoseya Jubase)

bhuje arson victim A frustrated Madanisile Dinizulu, whose house, clothes and identity documents were torched in the arson attack. She is now barefooted as she lost all her shoes in the night-time raid on Bhuje Village, Port St John’s. (Photo: Hoseya Jubase)

Earlier this month, at least 49 homesteads were burnt down in Bhuje village in the Majola district.

Murder and arson charges

It is understood that the soldier, from another village in the district, faces murder, arson and attempted murder charges. He is expected to appear in the Port St Johns Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, 26 January.

bhuje meeting Majola Administrative Area leaders (from left) Hlalisile Mdalelwa and Chief Khwezi Bhubesi Khwezi Majali, the chief of Majola Administrative Area, after meeting affected families in Bhuje Village, Port St John’s. (Photo: Hoseya Jubase)

bhuje meeting Majola Administrative Area leader Hlalisile Mdalelwa addresses Bhuje Village arson attack victims at Bhuje Junior Secondary School on 18 January 2023. (Photo: Hoseya Jubase)

Some Bhuje village residents are hiding in bushes, forests and nearby villages. They feel that the government has failed them as the attacks, allegedly sparked by stock theft, have been continuing in the area for decades with no intervention, claiming many lives and leaving thousands homeless.

A woman who survived Sunday’s attack said the conflict would not end soon. “The next generation will hear that their fathers were killed by some villagers, and they must take revenge… this thing started many years ago. Our children are living in this traumatic situation, it’s painful to see your children hiding in bushes.”

Another resident, who has been in hiding and asked to remain anonymous, said: “To solve this problem, the government must deploy soldiers, or more police officials to camp here, or open a satellite police station because this will never end now.

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“I almost lost my life that day,” she said of the attacks on 15 January.

“I saw [a group of armed men] coming and I immediately blew the whistle and we ran into the bush. They burnt down my house; everything, including the children’s uniforms, is gone.”

The woman said the group of about 200 men told her they would not harm women and children, but wanted to deal with the men of Bhuje village.

Makutela Malungile Msikwa, who lives in the village with her five children, said they were too scared to sleep at home.

Bhuje village, with burnt homesteads torched during the arson attack. Some residents are now sleeping in the nearby forest. (Photo: Hoseya Jubase)

“We are sleeping in the forest and only return here in the morning around 7am. We feel safer in the forest than sleeping here.”

Msikwa said her only wish was for the perpetrators to be arrested.

‘Not the first attack”

“This is not the first time [we have been attacked]. Even in 1996 they came and destroyed everything, and we started building our houses from scratch. Then they came again and destroyed what we had worked so hard to build. It is sad,” she said.

bhuje schoochildren A group of Bhuje Junior Secondary School learners return from school. Ahead of them are some of the torched homesteads. School uniforms were burnt in houses set alight by a mob of about 200 men. (Photo: Hoseya Jubase).

“I don’t know what wrong I did for them to treat my children and me like this. They destroyed everything. The men are never here. It is only me and the children who stay here,” Msikwa said.

Siyabonga Notyhaki, who runs a spaza shop in the village, said he lost more than R40,000 in the arson attack.

Another resident, Madanisile Dinizulu, said she had lost everything in the attack. “They threw food all over the floor, took our clothes, and burnt down our houses. They made sure that we were going to suffer,” she said. DM/MC

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South Africa

Murder and arson charges

‘Not the first attack”