Durban: A former policeman who killed a man to avenge his friend’s death has been jailed for life.
Thembelani Headman Dlamini, 44, was convicted and sentenced in the Pietermaritzburg High Court this week.
Dlamini also worked under the crime intelligence unit before becoming a taxi owner.
According to the NPA in 2019, Dlamini was with a friend, when they came under fire.
Dlamini survived the attack while his friend was killed.
“He thereafter suspected his relative and associate, Mmeli Gift Xaba, of orchestrating the attack and told several people that he would avenge his friend’s death,” said NPA spokesperson Natasha Kara.
In September 2019, Xaba was at a fuel station in the Harding area, when Dlamini went there and shot him several times in full view of people at the station.
“Xaba and the person that he was with were injured and rushed to a nearby hospital, where Xaba died.”
In addition to murder, attempted murder and possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition, Dlamini was also convicted on an extortion charge.
He threatened to kill members of the Bambanani Taxi Association, if they did not pay him an amount of R50 000, to deter other taxi associations.
“He also wanted them to allow him to run his taxis without paying the association’s joining fee of R40 000; further, he demanded them to pay him between R50 and R100 per taxi per day.
“To coerce them to pay him, he enlisted the assistance of heavily armed men, who would threaten them into submission,” said Kara.
Dlamini was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder, five years imprisonment for attempted murder, 20 years imprisonment for possession of unlicensed firearm and ammunition and 15 years for extortion.
The NPA said the sentences would run concurrently.
Dlamini was declared unfit to possess a firearm.
IOL