Polygamist husband arrested after allegedly murdering both his wives

A 47-year old man was arrested by South African police on Tuesday in a village near East London for allegedly killing both his wives by stabbing and clubbing them to death, police said. Lieutenant Colonel Mtati Tana said neighbours, concerned at the screaming and crying emanating from the man's rondavel, had alerted police.

When officers from the police station in Chalumna, about 50 kilometres west of East London, arrived at the man's home in the early hours of the morning they found the man standing outside the rondavel. “He was just standing there. He didn't run away,” said Tana.



The two women were found dead in the house and police seized a knobkerrie and a knife. The man was taken into custody and is expected to appear in the Mdantsane Magistrate's Court on two charges of murder on Friday.

Tana said the man's name or that of his two wives, aged 42 and 47 years, could not be released as next of kin still needed to be informed of the deaths. The motive for the killing was also not known, he said.