30,000 flock to beatification ceremony of murdered South African teacher

A worshipper holds a book bearing a portrait of Benedict Daswa as she attends a vigil in Thohoyandou for his beatification on September 12, 2015. (Photo: AFP)

Some 30,000 people gathered in a small village in northern South Africa Sunday for a ceremony for the beatification of a school teacher who was bludgeoned to death for resisting witchcraft.

Benedict Daswa is the first person to undergo the key step toward sainthood in the southern African region.