Lover Man 'eats Love Rival's Heart'

A Cape Town love triangle turned gruesome when a woman's former boyfriend allegedly attacked her new lover, cut out his heart and ate it with a knife and fork.

Neighbours in Malunga Park, Gugulethu, were awoken at about 10pm on Tuesday by a traumatised man who had witnessed the savage attack.

Residents peeped through windows of the upmarket house and allegedly saw the woman's former lover mutilating Mbuyiselo Manona's body.

"He then cut the heart out and ate it before the police came and took him away," the neighbour said. 

A neighbour, who did not want to be named, said the man who raised the alarm rented a room at the back of the house, which belongs to Manona's girlfriend, Nomonde Soloshe.

 

It is not the first time that Soloshe has been embroiled in a fatal love triangle. Her husband, wealthy Cape Town businessman Bhekizulu Tshabalala, was murdered by her alleged lover, Xolani Hobongwana, in 1996.

The neighbour said yesterday that Soloshe's former boyfriend had been hired recently to install aluminium windows at the house.

"When we got there the man kept muttering 'I am the king' and declaring his undying love for the woman.

"He then cut the heart out and ate it before the police came and took him away," the neighbour said.

There was no sign of Soloshe, who is believed to be in her 50s, at her house yesterday but her Mercedes-Benz was parked in the driveway.

The home was cordoned off as police combed it for clues.

Western Cape police spokesman Captain Frederick van Wyk said the police were called to the house at about 10.30pm on Tuesday.

"On the scene they found a suspect, a Zimbabwean, eating the heart of a human with a knife and fork," said Van Wyk.

"[The police] were informed that the victim had been stabbed on the left side of his chest and in his neck, and had a bite mark on the right side of his face."

The suspect was arrested and is due to appear in court soon.

Clinical psychologist Ian Meyer described the act of removing Manona's heart as a "primitive symbol of triumph".

He said such behaviour was not common in South Africa.

"Cannibalism is not common but it exists. A lot of research has to be done. The police will have to determine if he was mentally defective when he allegedly committed the offence," said Meyer.

Manona's younger sister, Thembela, said her brother had been in a relationship with Soloshe for more than four years.