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In 2012, a leaked internal police memo revealed that the dissolved Occult Unit appeared to have been revived, albeit under a different name: the SAPS Harmful Religious Practices Unit.By redefining occult crime as "crime that relates to or emanates primarily from an ostensible belief in the supernatural that formed a driving force in the crime," the new unit lends itself to a more practical, less fanatical air. Emphasis is placed on preventing (literal) witch hunts, a common occurrence in rural sectors, as well as ritualistic abuse. However, all this effort to appear sensible is sort of undermined by the inclusion of "curses intended to cause harm," "vampirism," "spiritual intimidation, including astral coercion," and "allegations of rape by a tokoloshe spirit."And then reports surfaced that Jonker himself had returned to train detectives and equip them with the necessary skills to combat the occult. The focus this time seemed to have been shifted to tangible and real occult threats and not factually dubious underground conspiracies, but seeing as the "Hound of God" had trained the officers and the list of occult crimes still echoed traces of early-90s sentiment, how could anyone be sure?What made the deal even more unclear was the fact that Parliament was unable to supply questioning members of the opposition with official statistics about the number of occult-related crimes. Dianne Kohler Barnard of the Democratic Alliance, the official opposition to the ruling majority African National Congress, was the MP who led the charge.The sad reality of the situation is that there truly is a need for a specialized unit dealing with ritual murders in South Africa.
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