Durban - The Pinetown father who plead guilty to killing his three biological children and stepdaughter by hanging them, is due to be sentenced in the Pietermaritzburg High Court today.
Sibusiso Mpungose, 44, pleaded guilty in October to hanging his children aged 4, 6, and 10 at their family home in Wyebank on September 3.
His 16-year-old step daughter was strangled with a bathrobe belt and found in the bush in Padfield Park, Pinetown.
In his guilty plea he said he had been experiencing problems with his wife and she wanted a divorce. He said this left him devastated and he decided to kill himself and his children.
Shortly after his arrest Mpungose was also charged with rape but the rape charge was withdrawn.
The KwaZulu-Natal Social Development MEC Nonhlanhla Khoza is expected to attend the court proceedings and will join throngs of people who will be protesting outside Pietermaritzburg High Court in support of the mother of the four children.
MEC Khoza said although she has full confidence in the justice system, she wants to see the man accused for killing innocent children given a lengthy sentence.
“We believe that the law should protect decent law-abiding citizens. And we call all members of the society to be in court in support of the woman who lost her children at the hands of a person who claimed to love her. The gruesome murders of the children remain fresh in the minds of all South Africans.
She added the fact that the man pleaded guilty to the murder of the children was a significant call for justice to be served. “We remain grateful to the work done by the investigators in ensuring that this man was found and arrested immediately after killing his children.
"Now we need the courts to ensure harsh sentencing is meted out and to make an example about him that such atrocious crimes have no place in our society.”