Kimberley – Mkhuseli Mamane, who is accused of fatally stabbing a Kimberley man at a local bar, told the Northern Cape High Court on Thursday that the deceased repeatedly called him a “kwedini”, which refers to an uncircumcised man in isiXhosa.
Bhekithemba Mpalweni died after he was stabbed five times by Mamane at Capello’s on September 11 last year.
Mamane, 33, said that he at first ignored the insults and threats made by the deceased but later changed his mind after realising that Mpalweni was being disrespectful.
“I had a brief argument with the deceased when I went to the bar to order myself a drink. The deceased did not stand in the queue and pushed past me. I told him that he was disrespectful. We had a brief argument. I took my drink and headed back to my friends. Moments later he arrived with one of his friends and told me that he was not afraid of me and called me a ‘kwedini’,” said Mamane.
He said that both of their friends intervened and he decided to let the matter go but that the deceased carried on with the issue.
“I went to the bathroom and found the deceased inside. He said boys must go outside as they are not allowed to urinate with men. That aggravated me and we swore at each other. Some people who were inside the bathroom spoke to the deceased and I went out. The next moment I felt someone tapping me on my shoulder and calling me ‘kwedini’ again. It was the deceased and he said we must go outside so he could show me I was not a man. He said he was going to kill me. We swore at each other and I decided to let him be and headed back to our table.”
Mamane said that later, while waiting for his friend outside the bar, the deceased again approached him.
“The deceased saw me sitting outside and again said that he was not afraid of me. After he called me ‘kwedini’ again, I decided to hit him with my fist. I got up and hit him with a fist in the back. I saw that he was holding something shiny and realised it was a knife. While we were wrestling, I saw him bringing the knife towards me and I disarmed him. I was afraid and started to stab him. I am not sure how many times I stabbed him. After realising the deceased was no longer a danger to me, I threw the knife on the ground and drove off in my car.”
Captain Aggrey Magugu, however, told the court that the police did not find a knife at the scene after the murder.
“Upon arrival at the scene, I saw that it was cordoned off. The deceased was covered in a space blanket. He was certified dead by paramedics. The bouncer of the club came and handed me a cellphone saying it belonged to the deceased. I went through the pockets of the deceased and found a bank card. I handed the bank card and cellphone to one of the family members of the deceased. The police seized no exhibits at the scene,” said Magugu.
The State prosecutor, Advocate Keageletse Ilanga, disputed Mamane’s sequence of events and said that the accused’s intention was never to merely fight the deceased but to kill him.
Ilanga said that video footage as well as the testimony of one of the employees at the bar, showed that the deceased never said anything to the accused when he exited the bar.
“The footage showed that the deceased was not talking to anyone and minding his own business when he left the bar. The footage also shows that he did not even look at you when he walked out. It was when he passed you that you attacked him from behind. The reason you were seated outside the bar was not that you were waiting for your friend, but you were waiting for the deceased as you were angry because he had called you a ‘kwedini’,” Ilanga said.
She added that the numerous stab wounds also indicated that the accused’s intention was to kill the deceased.
“I put it to you that you stabbed vital organs of the deceased as you aimed for his heart. If your intent was just to fight him, why did you stab him five times? This version that you were stabbing him out of self-defence is nothing but a joke.”
The matter was postponed to Friday.