Durban — Family members of a Newlands West murdered mother and child felt that one of the accused, who was 13 at the time of the killing, seemed to show no remorse every time they saw her in court.
They had been speaking after the matter was adjourned to next month in the Durban High Court on Thursday where the three accused charged with the murder had been expected to plead.
Slindile Pamela Zamisa, her daughter Andile Zamisa, 23, as well as the teenager, are charged with the 2020 murders of Smangele Simamane and her daughter, Sbongakonke Mthembu, 12.
They were found stuffed in a big suitcase that was dumped on Lwandle Drive in KwaDabeka.
In April, Zamisa’s stepdaughter, Nomfundo Truelove Ngcobo, pleaded guilty in the Pietermaritzburg High Court to Simamane’s murder and was sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment.
In her plea, she had said the motive for the killing was that she believed that Simamane was part of a group of people who were responsible for her father’s death through witchcraft.
Last year in May, the Pietermaritzburg High Court sentenced Nicholas Sithembiso Lamula, 41, who was Zamisa’s boyfriend, to six years’ imprisonment for his role in the murders.
According to his plea, his girlfriend managed to lure Simamane and her daughter to a house in Durban where she blamed them for a close relative’s death.
On Thursday in court, State advocate BM Mbokazi said that the matter had been on the court roll for a possible plea. However, he asked for an adjournment as the defence who was representing all three accused would no longer be doing so.
“There’s a conflict of interest between all three accused,” he said.
Defence attorney T Mlondo confirmed that there was a conflict, adding that he would only be representing the minor in the matter.
Zamisa and her daughter have been in custody since their arrest in June 2021, having been denied bail in the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court.
The minor is in the care of a guardian.
Outside court, Simamane’s mother-in-law, Nomkhosi Simamane, said it was hard for her as she lived with the couple’s 3-year-old child.
“I keep telling the child she (mom) is at work. One day she replied telling me I keeping saying she is at work. ‘Gogo she’s my mother, I miss her; where is she?’” said Nomkhosi.
She added that the family was still going to wait before telling the toddler.
Secretary of ANC Women’s League in Newlands West Gugu Zulu said she hoped that justice would be done and the law would take its course, sending a strong message to others.
“We are traumatised as a community by what happened. We are grateful that both families (Simamane and Mthembu) affected listened when we pleaded with them to let the law run its course. This must happen with speed, so that the two families can get closure,” Zulu said.
Daily News