A Zionist Archbishop on Wednesday admitted masterminding the gruesome murder of his younger lover.
The 66-year-old Mfuleni resident led police straight to the scene where the body of Nonesi Mdekazi, 32, was dumped.
This happened hours after Vumile Gwadela made a brief appearance at the Blue Downs Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.
The archbishop was arrested last week Saturday in the Eastern Cape following the mysterious disappearance of Nonesi, who was last seen with him.
Vumile arrived in Cape Town on Tuesday and admitted to hiring two hitmen to carry out the murder.
It was only on Wednesday after more interrogation by police that Vumile finally agreed to point out where the body is.
He led police to a densely wooded area a few kilometres outside Stellenbosch on the R310 to Franschhoek.
There, at the bottom of a mountainous slope, the badly decaying body was discovered hidden under tall trees.
The smell of rotting flesh hung thick in the air.
Her body lay face down on the ground and she was naked from the waist down.
Nonesi’s skin had turned black and chunks of flesh were missing where decomposition had begun.
The holy man allegedly told cops he had hired the hitmen to kill her because she was planning to leave him for her ex-boyfriend.
Vumile’s younger brother William Zikhali, 60, says: “I knew the minute that he ran to the Eastern Cape that he must have done something wrong.
“I was called in by investigators when he was ready to confess all.
“I told him running away will not help him.
“Up till then he had stuck to the story that he did not know where she was.
“But he then opened up and said he hired a couple of men who steal cars and kill people to have her eliminated.
“He said he had spent a lot of money on her and she was going to leave him for her ex-boyfriend.
“He claims the guys killed her first and he followed them by car and they came here to dump her body.”
Before leaving the police station on Wednesday, William says he gave his estranged brother a stern warning about leading the police astray.
“I warned him that taking us to the wrong location would only get him into more trouble,” says William.
“We did not even have to look for the place, we stopped right here and he pointed down.
“As soon we saw the body, we knew it was her.”
Earlier in the day, relatives and residents came out in their numbers to see Vumile at Blue Downs court where he appeared on a kidnapping charge.
The case was postponed to next week for bail information.
Police spokesperson Captain FC Van Wyk says a charge of murder will be added.
“A missing person’s body was found after the suspect pointed out the location,” he tells the Daily Voice.
*This article was published in the Daily Voice