d: 1960
Elias Xitavhudzi
Summary
Name:
Elias XitavhudziNickname:
PangamanYears Active:
1953 - 1959Status:
ExecutedClass:
Serial KillerVictims:
16Method:
StabbingDeath:
November 14, 1960Nationality:
South Africad: 1960
Elias Xitavhudzi
Summary: Serial Killer
Name:
Elias XitavhudziNickname:
PangamanStatus:
ExecutedVictims:
16Method:
StabbingNationality:
South AfricaDeath:
November 14, 1960Years Active:
1953 - 1959bio
Elias Xitavhudzi's resided in Atteridgeville, a township near Pretoria, South Africa. Information about his personal background remains scarce.
murder story
Between 1953 and 1959, Elias Xitavhudzi committed a series of brutal murders in Atteridgeville, South Africa. He targeted 16 white individuals in a strictly segregated community, causing widespread fear during the apartheid era. Xitavhudzi earned the nickname "Pangaman" due to his use of a panga, a local term for a machete, to mutilate his victims.
His arrest came after he sold a stolen watch belonging to one of his victims. In prison, he confessed to all his crimes. He was swiftly tried and convicted of 16 murders. Sentenced to death, he was hanged on November 14, 1960.
Xitavhudzi was the second in a series of at least a half-dozen serial killers to have plagued the township of Atteridgeville.
