Durban — As 2023 wraps up, the Daily News looks back on significant gender-based violence convictions secured by the National Prosecuting Authority that it reported on.
While the recent crime statistics showed that fewer women and children were killed in South Africa between July and September 2023 (decreasing by 10.9% and 7.0% respectively), at the time of releasing the statistics, Police Minister Bheki Cele said the crime figures showed that far too many women and children in the country were not safe around people they know and trust, and at times those that they love and in the places where they are supposed to be safe.
Most recently, the Durban High Court sentenced Sfiso Professor Ndlovu to life imprisonment for the murder of his wife Khulukazi Ndlovu.
Ndlovu kidnapped, killed, and torched his wife in her car. She had been missing for a few days when her car was found burnt and abandoned in a cemetery in Molweni.
He was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment for kidnapping and seven years for malicious damage to property for setting alight Khulukazi’s Kia Picanto. These two sentences are to run concurrently with the term of life imprisonment imposed.
Last month, Kista Chetty was convicted of the 2021 murders of his wife Elisha Naidoo, 39, his 13-year-old daughter Jadene, his 9-year-old son Jordan, 8-year-old Aarav (Liam), and his 3-year-old nephew Aldrin.
He was sentenced to life imprisonment for each of the murders by the Durban High Court.
In that same month, bus driver Siyazi Vincent Gumede was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment by the Ntuzuma Magistrate’s Court for the murder of his mistress Zinhle Mtshali in a case similar to that of Paralympian and convicted murderer Oscar Pistorius, where the woman was shot through a locked door.
In March, the Ntuzuma Magistrate’s Court sentenced Ayanda Shezi to 20 years’ imprisonment for the 2019 attempted murder and the 2021 murder of the mother of his 5-year-old son whom he stabbed 22 times.
Vamisile Langa, 19, was killed while at the home of her new lover by Shezi. He stabbed her repeatedly and only stopped and fled when the new boyfriend came into the room armed with a bush knife.
Meanwhile, Bongani Sanele Mlambo was sentenced to 22 years’ imprisonment by the Durban High Court in March for the murder of his girlfriend Xolile Mbatha, who was a student at the Mangosuthu University of Technology. He stabbed her with a knife.
In February, the Ntuzuma Magistrate’s Court sentenced Zwakele Mgobhozi to 15 years’ imprisonment for the murder of Precious Pinky Yeni, 36, who is also the mother of his child.
Mgobhozi stabbed and slit Yeni’s throat after she refused to have sex with him.
According to recent crime statistics, 4 726 rape incidents took place at either the home of the rape victim or the home of the perpetrator known to the victim, such as a family member, a friend or a neighbour.
The Pinetown Magistrate’s Court in November sentenced a 50-year-old man for the rape of his mentally challenged neighbour, who is 25 years old but with the mental capacity of a 6-year-old.
In October, the Ntuzuma Magistrate’s Court sentenced convicted Facebook serial rapist Philani Siyabonga Ndwandwe to 30 years’ imprisonment on five counts of rape.
The 31-year-old used Facebook to lure his victims to Durban, offering them prospective employment as childminders and tuck shop assistants. Once they arrived in Inanda he would take them to a secluded area and rob and rape the women at knifepoint.
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