Elias Xitavhudzi was a South African
serial killer
A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A
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* with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...
who murdered 16 women in
Atteridgeville
Atteridgeville is a township located to the west of Pretoria, South Africa. It is located to the east of Saulsville, to the west of West Park; to the north of Laudium and to the south of Lotus Gardens. The settlement was established in 1939, and ...
,
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
, in the 1950s. Xitavhudzi targeted only whites in the then-strictly
segregated community. His
killing spree
A spree killer is someone who commits a criminal act that involves two or more murders or homicides in a short time, in multiple locations. The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics defines a spree killing as "killings at two or more locations wit ...
caused a local sensation during the peak years of South Africa's
apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
regime. Prior to his capture, he acquired the nickname "Pangaman" (''panga'' being a local word for the
machete
Older machete from Latin America
Gerber machete/saw combo
Agustín Cruz Tinoco of San Agustín de las Juntas, Oaxaca">San_Agustín_de_las_Juntas.html" ;"title="Agustín Cruz Tinoco of San Agustín de las Juntas">Agustín Cruz Tinoco of San ...
with which he mutilated his victims).
Xitavhudzi was arrested after selling a stolen watch that had belonged to one of his victims. In prison he confessed to all his crimes. He was quickly tried and convicted of 16 murders.
Sentenced to death
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
, he was
hanged
Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging in ...
on 14 November 1960. He was the second in a series of at least a half-dozen serial killers to have plagued the township of
Atteridgeville
Atteridgeville is a township located to the west of Pretoria, South Africa. It is located to the east of Saulsville, to the west of West Park; to the north of Laudium and to the south of Lotus Gardens. The settlement was established in 1939, and ...
.
See also
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Moses Sithole
Moses Sithole (born 17 November 1964) is a South African serial killer and rapist who committed the ABC Murders, so named because they began in Atteridgeville, continued in Boksburg and finished in Cleveland, a suburb of Johannesburg. Sithole ...
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Elifasi Msomi
Elifasi Msomi a.k.a. The Axe Killer (1910 – 10 February 1956) was a South African serial killer who was convicted in 1955 of 15 murders and sentenced to death by hanging. His victims all came from the Umkomaas and Umzimkulu valleys of Natal.
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Daisy de Melker
Daisy Louisa C. de Melker ( née Hancorn-Smith; 1 June 1886 – 30 December 1932) simply known as Daisy de Melker, was a South African nurse who poisoned two husbands with strychnine for their life insurance money; she also poisoned her only ...
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List of serial killers in South Africa
A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more people, with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. However, South Africa uses a more lenient definition of serial ...
References
1960 deaths
20th-century executions by South Africa
Executed South African serial killers
People convicted of murder by South Africa
People executed by South Africa by hanging
People from Pretoria
Place of birth missing
Racially motivated violence against white people in Africa
South African people convicted of murder
Year of birth missing
{{Crime-bio-stub