Catholic church beatifies South Africa's first 'home-grown' martyr

A South African school teacher who was murdered 25 years ago after he refused to take part in a witchcraft-related ritual, has been beatified by the Roman Catholic church, moving him one step closer to sainthood.

In a televised ceremony marking the event, Benedict Daswa was named South Africa's first home-grown martyr.

Dawa was bludgeoned to death by villagers in 1990 after he refused to join them in consulting elders about a lightning strike that burnt down several huts in Tshitanini, a community more than 500km northeast of Johannesburg.

The 43-year-old argued the lightning strike was caused by the weather, not an act of magic, and refused to take part in a search for the 'witch' who had caused the storm.

He was set upon one evening as he was driving home having got out of his car to move stones and logs that were blocking the road.

"While his executioners were killing him, Benedict was on his knees praying," a Catholic priest said during the beatification ceremony, which took place in northern Limpopo province.

Several people were arrested for Daswa's murder, but the case against them was later dropped for lack of evidence.

The Catholic Church has put a number of Africans, as well as foreigners who worked in Africa, on the path to sainthood in recent years.

Josephine Bakhita, a former slave from Sudan's Darfur region, became her country's first native saint in 2000.