Durban - MANGOSUTHU University of Technology student Zolile Khumalo died apologising and asking her ex-boyfriend what it was she had done to offend him.
This is according to Khumalo’s roommate, a witness to the incident at the Lonsdale student residence in the Durban city centre, where Khumalo was shot by Thabani Mzolo, a few days after ending a relationship with him.
Nosipho Bhengu told the Durban High Court on Monday that Khumalo’s boyfriend was abusive and overly possessive of her.
Mzolo was arrested at the scene with the firearm he allegedly carried to the room in a blue bag on May 1, 2018.
Bhengu and another student, Simiso Buthelezi, were in the room at the time and have both testified to witnessing Mzolo shooting Khumalo in cold blood.
Bhengu told the court the couple’s relationship had ended.
“Two days before the incident, Zo sent me a message, telling me that they had broken up,” she said, adding that it was not the couple’s first break-up.
She said the couple broke up in 2017 and got back together towards the end of the year. There were also incidents when Khumalo returned with bruises on the neck, Bhengu said, adding that Khumalo had told her that Mzolo had tried to strangle her.
She said Khumalo told her some time between February and April that Mzolo was abusive and overly possessive.
“She told me that he did not want her to end the relationship. She told me that he said if she did, he would kill her. She told me these things because we were close,” Bhengu said.
On the day of the incident, she was in the room when Mzolo allegedly gunned Khumalo down.
“Zo was sitting at her study table. I was sitting on the bed. Thabani pulled out a firearm from a blue bag and cocked it. He then said to Zo, ‘Why ungijwayela kabi?’ (Why are you taking me for granted?). Zo then asked what she had done,” Bhengu testified.
She said Khumalo was crying and came to sit next to her on the bed. Mzolo grabbed a chair and sat in front of them.
“Zo kept apologising, asking him to forgive her, asking what is it that she has done. At some point he asked her to stand up. After she stood up, I went towards the window, moving away from them. At that stage I heard two shots and I realised that the situation was serious,” she said.
Bhengu said she called for help through the window and could see security guards from the residential building across the road.
“I then knelt on the floor next to the bed and I could see Simiso, Thabani still holding the gun and Zo on the floor with a pool of blood next to her head.”
Under cross-examination, Bhengu said when Mzolo instructed Khumalo to stand up before shooting her, he told her to kiss him.
Describing Khumalo and Mzolo’s relationship - before learning that Mzolo was abusive towards Khumalo - Bhengu said according to her observations, they were in love.
The trial continues.