Durban - A bullet to the back of the head and another to the heart ended the life of Glebelands hostel resident Sipho Ndovela in broad daylight on Monday.
The father-of-six from Bizana in the Eastern Cape was assassinated in front of the police at uMlazi Magistrate’s Court just five metres from the court entrance, a witness told the Daily News on Monday night.
Ndovela, 43, was on the phone calling his police escorts to take him to his hiding place after attending a court hearing, which had been postponed indefinitely.
He was the key witness to the March murder of his friend, Fikile Siyephu, who was shot dead in front of him.
Ndovela was wounded in the attack in the notorious Glebelands hostel’s Block 49.
He had survived two previous attempts on his life. When Siyephu was killed, Ndovela escaped with a bullet wound to the leg.
Days later, he quit his job as taxi rank manager after the second attempt failed.
During the Easter weekend, unknown men went looking for him at his Bizana home but could not find him as he was not there.
It is just two weeks since Ndovela told the Daily News how he survived the March attack, which was followed by two more attempts after the arrest of five suspects on murder and attempted murder charges.
“… After one suspect was arrested, he then identified four other men and since then I have received threats that I will be dead before the case goes to court. I’m a moving target. This has made my life difficult because my wife and kids are struggling back home,” he said at the time.
On Monday morning, his predictions proved correct.
Gunmen hit their “target” in the court’s yard, in the presence of police who quickly retreated to the court building when the first gunshot went off, according to the witness.
The witness said three undercover police had fetched Ndovela from his hiding place for a court appearance in a case unrelated to Siyephu’s death and his own shooting.
The man said he had followed behind separately.
“The case was postponed to a date to be announced and we left the courtroom and stood on the walkway just outside the entrance. There was a group of uniformed officers who were standing opposite - not far from us.
“As Sipho was calling the officers to escort him home, three young men walked past and the next thing, guns were drawn. One came behind Sipho and as I screamed at him to take cover, a shot rang out.
“He was shot in the back of his head and he fell. I saw the police running into the court building while the man shot him through the heart. The three then ran towards the main gate,” said the witness, who asked to remain anonymous.
The gunmen escaped in a car that had been parked out on the road.
Before Ndovela was gunned down, the witness said he had noticed a young man loitering near the doorway. After the shooting, the same man strolled across, glanced at the body then sauntered away.
Observers alerted the police to the man’s behaviour. They they gave chase and caught him.
“I think he was checking out that Sipho was dead and the bystanders also thought so,” the witness said.
KZN violence monitor Mary de Haas said the police had failed Ndovela.
“The man was in hiding and he had to die this way. He was a key witness in a murder case set for trial in the High Court. His testimony would have implicated the alleged key warlord and extortionist in the Glebelands hostel complex, linked to countless attacks and many of the estimated 25 deaths in the hostel during the past year.
“The thugs made good of their threat that he would never live to see the case go to court,” De Haas said.
She said danger to Ndovela’s life had been communicated to the police management and KZN MEC Willies Mchunu’s office.
“There is no excuse whatsoever for failing to protect potential victims. Heads must roll. Since he was taken by police from his hiding place, he was not supposed to have been without police escort. As attacks continued at the hostel, peoples’ lives became endangered, including Ndovela’s.
“On April 21, we wrote an urgent letter to uMlazi cluster police and station management, as well as to the provincial commissioner and MEC Mchunu, pointing out their failure to act on previous letters and asking a number of questions relating to the conduct of the provincial and uMlazi police,” De Haas said.
She said their letter had not been responded to.
uMlazi police cluster commander Major-General Dumezweni Chiliza referred the Daily News to the provincial police.
Provincial police spokesman Major Thulani Zwane said Ndovela was instructed not to leave the court until his escort was available.
“The victim felt that his life was threatened so he was provided police escort as he was to attend a court case. We don’t know why he had to leave the courthouse alone because he was told to wait for officers to escort him. A 9mm pistol was used and no arrest has been made,” said Zwane
Asked about surveillance cameras in the court building, Zwane said if there were any, they would help in the investigation. He said his office would not be giving out any more information on the matter.
In the Eastern Cape village of Bizana six children, all younger than 13, and their unemployed mother are mourning the death of their father and husband, Ndovela.
On Monday his sister, Nokubonga, 30, said her brother, who had visited last week, was the family’s breadwinner.
“Where can one be safe if a murder is committed in the court’s yard where there is supposed to be police visibility? Where else in the world do you get someone assassinated in such a fashion, at such a place,” she said.
She said the family found it hard to believe when a witness, and not the police, informed them that Ndovela was dead.
”My big brother was a down-to-earth person who seldom quarrelled even when he disagreed about something. I grew up with him and he never laid his hand on me even when I was in the wrong,” she said.
Ndovela’s death has also left Glebelands residents shocked. All those the Daily News spoke to requested anonymity out of fear.
“This place is hell. We displayed strong resistance against the apartheid system yet our very leaders are using us as pawns in their game of chess. We are good enough to vote and after voting we will be useless for four years and then the cycle repeats itself,” said a mother of two.
On Monday the Ndovela family began preparing for the journey to Durban to fetch the body of their loved one.
Daily News