The brutal attack happened at Ngove village in the Giyani area of Limpopo on Wednesday night, October 28.
Police spokesperson Col Moatshe Ngoepe, who confirmed the incident said villagers went on a rampage after the body of 60-year-old Phosa Egnes Maswanganyi, who went missing on Tuesday October 27, was discovered hanging from a tree in the nearby bushes.
"The residents then accused the deceased's husband and his friend of being involved in her disappearance and eath. Subsequent to that, they torched the husband's two rondavel houses and thereafter set him alight," he said.
Ngoepe said the husband was badly injured and taken to hospital for medical treatment.
"The Giyani police together with the public order police [Pops] unit responded quickly to the scene. The crowd had already left and moved to the other house which they tried to burn too. The police responded swiftly and managed to stop them," Ngoepe said.
Provincial police commissioner Lt-Gen Nneke Ledwaba has condemned the brutal attack in the strongest possible terms.
"We cannot allow this kind of behavior to rule our province where people still ignore our call to work with us and refrain from taking the law into their own hands. The suspects must be hunted down and brought to book," said Ledwaba.
The police have launched a massive manhunt for the suspects involved in the matter, while investigations are still ongoing.