Johannesburg – A man accused of killing a Marikana sangoma appeared in the Bizana Magistrate’s Court on Friday, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said.

The case against Lindelani Mkhize, 28, was postponed until 27 June for further investigation, said NPA spokesperson Luxolo Tyali.

Mkhize was arrested in his hometown of KwaMaphumulo, KwaZulu-Natal, last month.

He is accused of killing 69-year-old sangoma Alton “Ndzabe” Zikhuthele Joja at his home in Ludeke Holt village, in Mbizana, Eastern Cape on 24 March.

Joja was to have testified before the Farlam Commission of Inquiry about his role, and that of his sons, in rituals performed on striking miners on a hill near Lonmin’s platinum mine in Marikana in August

The rituals were apparently supposed to make the miners believe they were invisible and invincible in the face of gunfire.

Five armed men shot Joja when he walked up to their vehicle, parked at his home, to ask them what they were looking for.

The gunmen fled. Their car was later found abandoned and burnt out with a rifle inside.

Joja died on arrival at a local hospital.

The Farlam Commission of Inquiry is probing the circumstances of the deaths of 44 people – including 34 killed by the police – in strike-related violence in Marikana last year.

SAPA