The five left behind watched as the others made their way to the village and they had no indication that it would be the last time that they’d see any of them again. After the others disappeared in the distance, the old woman gathered up the four children who had remained behind with her and delegated tasks for their nightly duties. The older girl and smallest boy would go and fetch wood in the bush. The middle boys would fetch water, while the old lady would pound the fresh maize, collected from a nearby field earlier in the day, in the well-worn kika.

The sun lowered in the western sky and the small group, now back from their chores, sat at the fire eating their porridge. The girl was dispirited because she had not been allowed to go to the village for the event at the kgotla. All her friends from school would be there. She hadn’t seen them since the school holiday had begun nearly three weeks ago and she’d been planning all week about what she would wear and what she must remember to tell them. She was angry when her mother told her that she should remain behind with her grandmother and take care of her brothers, but not angry enough to speak out. She knew her mother very well and speaking out against her decisions was not wise. So the girl remained silent as she watched them head towards the village.

They sat quietly around the fire gazing into the glowing embers. The small boy was herding a dung beetle towards the flames with a long stick. The old woman shifted on the reed mat, responding to the pain in her hip that had caused all of them to remain behind in the first place. The girl gathered up their empty bowls and washed them at the back of the lolwapa. She came around to the fire and collected the boys to get them ready to sleep.

Once they were in their bed, she lay down on her mat next to them. She was just falling asleep when she heard her grandmother enter the hut, set the paraffin lamp on the metal table next to her bed, and lay down to sleep herself.

All were fast asleep and heard neither the sound of the door opening nor the two men who entered the hut. The men blocked the door and began their work with the grandmother. She made no noise; only her terrified eyes were witness to her dying moments while the taller man tightened the rope around her throat until her breathing stopped. The other man had quietly slipped a similar rope around the girl’s neck. The oldest of the three boys was the only one to put up any resistance at all. With nails long and dirty from weeks at the lands, he clawed three scratches along the forearm of the tall man before he took his last breath.

The men knew that their work had only started. They were here for collection, the deposit for the job still sitting heavy in their pockets, the balance to be paid upon delivery. They removed the private parts of their victims, the parts that they had been sent to retrieve, but they also took other parts as well. They knew of a traditional doctor west of Serowe who would pay handsomely for these. When they were finished they would be wealthy men; they were positive about that.

As the early morning light made its way slowly over the horizon. The taller man said, “They’ll be returning soon. We must finish.”

They took everything outside of the hut. From near the lolwapa, where only a few hours ago a girl sat angry with her mother and a small boy herded a dung beetle, the men collected the bottles of petrol that they had brought. In the house, they poured the contents over the bodies and set them alight. Rushing out of the hut, they collected the bucket, and in the glow from the fire, they disappeared into the bush.

***

Tell us what you think: What do you think the body parts will be used for?