POLICE have opened an inquest docket after a 36-year-old mother and her 14-year-old daughter were found hanging not far from their home in the Hlalanathi area of Jozini, northern Zululand.

Police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Vincent Mdunge said a used condom was found next to the dead bodies of Refilwe Goodness Duma and her mother Bahlekile.

"The women were hanging from a tree branch. One was hanged with an electric cable and the other with a rope.

"It is difficult at this stage to say whether there was foul play or not, but the fact that a used condom was found on the scene has made the police suspicious.

"A postmortem will be conducted with a view to shedding light on how the two died," Mdunge said.

Meanwhile, a community policing forum leader in Manguzi, KwaZulu-Natal, was allegedly killed in police cells by prisoners awaiting trial.

"Mphephu Ngubane, a leader of the community policing forum in KwaMnyayisa outside Manguzi, died in the police cells immediately after he was arrested for assault," Mdunge said.

Mdunge said two men in the same cell as Ngubane were charged with murder and would appear in the Manguzi magistrate's court soon.

"Ngubane was arrested after he allegedly hacked a man with an axe during a fight over a woman," Mdunge said.

"He was charged with assault with the intention to cause grievous bodily harm."

He said it was believed that one of the prisoners awaiting trial had told other inmates that Ngubane had "harassed" him during his arrest.