Teachers and management at a northern KwaZulu-Natal school are holding prayer meetings for pupils whom they believe have been possessed by evil spirits.

Thembinkosi Mngomezulu, principal of Manhlenga High School, said he believed that his pupils were bewitched, because they cried continuously in class. He said this was the first time something like this had happened at the school.

This follows the recent murders of two women whom the pupils apparently believed had bewitched them.

"Lately, the pupils have just been crying and we believe they were bewitched. We believe there are evil spirits at this school," the principal said.

Mngomezulu said prayer meetings were being held for the pupils.

"The prayers are for those who are possessed and those who have not yet been possessed," he said.

The Education Department had joined in the prayer service on Wednesday, he said.

The principal broke his silence after pupils from his school were implicated in the murder of two 60-year-old women.

Police Captain Jabulani Mdletshe had earlier said that the police believed the double murder had been planned and that residents from the Manguzi area had helped a group of pupils commit the crime.

The two women, Mangubane Msaba Zungu and Qibile Thabitha Thusi, were dragged from their homes and taken to a sports field where they were doused with petrol and set alight.

Zungu died at the scene and Thusi died in hospital.

Mngomezulu admitted that school pupils had been involved in the crime.

"The pupils did not take part in the killing as pupils from this school, but as members of the community, because the incident took place after school hours," he said.

Local police believe that this was an attempt by pupils to rid their school of evil spirits.

Mdletshe said pupils had been "acting strangely" since August 17.

"Many of the pupils started crying for no apparent reason. Some claimed they wanted meat during their crying," he said.

"There were apparently a few meetings held by the pupils to discuss the matter. At one of the meetings it was allegedly suggested that the two women might have bewitched the school," Mdletshe said.

The school is now preparing for matric trial examinations, which start on October 10.

Mngomezulu said that although classes had not been disrupted, female teachers at the school were scared of the pupils.

"But still they attend classes and teach," Mngomezulu said.

No arrests have been made yet.

The article above was found on Google and was published originally on IOL