The occult crimes unit, recently roped in to investigate the murder of 14-year-old Lukhona Fose, has resolved significant cases involving ritualistic crimes, cult movements, witchcraft-related killings and missing persons.
While specific case details remain confidential to safeguard ongoing work, its head, Brig Attie Lamprecht, believes the work of this unit is essential in South Africa. This is due to its specialised role in investigating crimes linked to harmful occult practices, requiring expertise to navigate cultural and criminal complexities.
“With strong support from SAPS leadership, the unit focuses on crimes, not beliefs like satanism, Wicca, paganism, or traditional healing, which the constitution protects,” he said.
This week, police announced that the unit responsible for investigating all cases where body parts are removed from victims for various reasons, including a hate or muthi crimes, will investigate the case of Fose.
According to police, there are two possibilities, including that the girl could have been targeted for her sexuality, making it a hate crime, or her body parts were mutilated for muthi purposes.
Who is the man behind this unit?
Lamprecht joined the police service in 1984 and now oversees investigations into harmful occult-related crimes, the National Bureau for Missing Persons and the anonymous tip-off Crime Stop platform. Due to the sensitive nature of his work, he maintains a private personal profile.
He became the commander of the occult crimes investigation unit in 2000, following Col Kobus Jonker’s medical retirement.
The unit’s discreet approach is essential in countering misinformation while addressing real harms caused by occult-related crimes, ensuring justice in a country where such cases require specialised handling
— Brig Attie Lamprecht, occult crimes unit head
In the late 1990s, as commander of the National Bureau for Missing Persons, he worked with Jonker, the founder of the occult crimes unit, to address a rise in teenage disappearances linked to harmful occult movements, such as Satanism and muthi-related killings.
“Our efforts successfully traced and rescued numerous children, preventing further harm. Upon taking over, I moved the unit’s operations out of the public eye to maintain focus and protect investigations,” he said.
He said the unit had solved significant cases involving ritualistic crimes, cult movements, witchcraft-related killings and missing persons.
Guided by his Christian faith, he deems this work as a calling, though the investigative focus remains evidence-based.
“The unit’s discreet approach is essential in countering misinformation while addressing real harms caused by occult-related crimes, ensuring justice in a country where such cases require specialised handling,” he said.
The unit's mandate includes:
- desecration of graves and theft of body parts;
- murders involving organ removal for muthi or supernatural purposes;
- crime scenes with occult symbols or paraphernalia;
- crimes driven by harmful occult beliefs, supported by evidence;
- killings of individuals accused of witchcraft or pointed out by “witchfinders”;
- ritualistic crimes linked to supernatural motives;
- harmful witchcraft spells intended to cause damage;
- unethical sangomas providing “protection muthi” to criminals or exploiting clients;
- fraudulent sangoma practices, voodoo or cursing; and
- dangerous cult movements infringing on the rights of adults and children.
While this unit does not have dedicated subunits at police stations or districts, a network of trained detectives is deployed across each province to respond to cases requiring specialised expertise.
“The demanding nature of these investigations leads to high turnover, requiring ongoing training and redeployment to maintain capacity,” he said.
He added that this provincial network ensured occult-related crimes, prevalent across South Africa’s diverse regions, were addressed by skilled investigators, providing essential support where standard policing might fall short.
National monitoring, additional expertise and linkage of modus operandi is done from the detective head office in Pretoria.
Investigating occult crimes is a challenging and solitary task. He said it required significant emotional and spiritual resilience.
“I face criticism from some esoteric practitioners and self-proclaimed satanists, who push their ‘cancel theory’ to discredit our work through articles and academic papers, frustrated by our guarded operations,” he said.
He added that many attempts were made to “cancel” him through disinformation and pure lies. “I believe an added reason is frustration because outsiders do not have access to our inner workings and processes. I accept their continued effort to spread disinformation adds evidence that we are doing something right,” he said.
Lamprecht said the murder of a 14-year-old girl from Roodepoort compelled them to ask, why could they not prevent it from happening? Where did they fail?
Likhona Fose's mutilated body was discovered in a veld not far from her home in Braamfischerville, south of Johannesburg, a day after she went missing.
He said their trained investigators worked closely with forensic pathologists and police forensics using a multidisciplinary approach.
“We neither assume nor rule out occult-related motives, such as muthi. Every lead is followed, and no stone will be left unturned.”
He added that investigators were trained to assess whether a crime’s motive aligns with occult practices, focusing on evidence that will stand up in court.
A key question they ask is whether the crime would have occurred without the suspect’s belief system.
“For example, we declined involvement in the Krugersdorp murders, led by Cecilia Steyn [convicted in 2019 for 11 murders], as the motive was greed, not occult-related. In contrast, the 2011 murder of Kirsty Theologo was driven by a satanic ritual, a crime tied directly to occult beliefs. These distinctions are the guiding factors we apply,” he said.
For the safety of children, he believes responsible parenting is always a solid foundation, but unfortunately, this does not always happen in South Africa.
“We are surrounded by dangerous predators, and children are many times in a position, making them vulnerable. Also not to be ignored is that many children have access to smartphones, and harmful occult content is overtly available online, and often, due to limited digital awareness, predators can see an opportunity.
“Society can protect them by educating the youth about online safety and fostering strong moral values to guide their choices.”
He said the tragic reality is that beliefs in using human body parts for muthi, to gain wealth, power or protection, persist in South Africa.
Such beliefs, he said, drive crimes like ritual murders, and they frequently encounter suspects in violent crimes, such as cash in transit heists, hijackings or assassinations, carrying muthi believed to offer supernatural advantages against the police.
“The Marikana incident highlighted how these beliefs can escalate violence, with individuals convinced that muthi could neutralise police weapons. Our unit regularly addresses these cases, working to protect the vulnerable.”
He added that the loss of Fose drove his unit to act with utmost diligence. They operate discreetly, mostly testifying ‘in-camera’ to protect their work from public scrutiny.
In such cases, the investigators apply specialised knowledge, collaborating with forensic experts to thoroughly investigate all possibilities, ensuring evidence links suspects to the crime.
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