Development was frozen between 1968 and 1978 in accordance with the government's policy that housing provided for black people be limited to the homelands.
Xitavhudzi was the second in a series of at least a half-dozen serial killers to have plagued the township of Atteridgeville.
The black township of Atteridgeville lies directly north of Laudium, although the two areas are separated by a series of hills, and no direct tarred road link exists between the two.
In an effort to ease tensions after the death of a student during police action, he consulted with Bishop Desmond Tutu, but by May 1984, six Atteridgeville and Saulsville schools closed.