A 16-year-old teenager, Zanomusa Mdluli lost his life while swimming with friends in a dam in eMachibini, KwaZulu-Natal.
His friend, Njabulo Mbhamali, says they tried rescuing Mdluli when they realised that he was drowning.
However, they had to abandon their efforts as they started losing breath under water and also almost drowned.
The K9 unit was called in to assist rescue Mdluli but police spokesperson Senzo Gumede says the teenager had already died upon their arrival. – Report by Maputaland Radio News reporter, Sduduzo Mathenjwa
Zulu monarch prime minister, Inkosi Mangosuthu Buthelezi, has revealed that king Goodwill Zwelithini KaBhekuzulu is still recuperating in hospital.
Buthelezi says while the king’s health is still not great, the situation is improving.
“I am happy that the queen of Linduzulu, umaNdlovu, and myself were briefed by the head of the medical team that’s treating the king. We have been told that their efforts to treat the king are progressing well and they are also happy with the progress made so far,” concludes Buthelezi.
The 73-year-old Zulu king was unable to open the KwaZulu-Natal provincial legislature as is customary at the beginning of the year due to ill health.
He was admitted to ICU last month due to high glucose levels. – Report by Maputaland Radio News reporter, Nokubonga Xaba.
The community of Ncotshane in Pongola near Ngwavuma, in KwaZulu-Natal, is hopping mad over a 15-year prison sentence handed down to police detective, Mxolisi Donda.
Donda shot Sifiso Sithole, popularly known as Jobe of Pongola in Ncotshane, during a row over parking. Sithole was shot with two bullets and died on the scene.
The magistrate who presided over the case slammed Donda for not having shown remorse since the beginning of the trial.
Sithole’s family and the community are, nonetheless, unhappy about the sentence given to him.
The deceased’s relatives were overcome with grief after the sentence was handed down and were unable to elaborate on their feelings.
Community members on the other hand warned that the leniency shown towards Donda could lead them to take the law into their own hands.
Gebhu Ntuli from Ncotshane was with Sithole when he was murdered.
Ntuli says his friend was killed for nothing.
He has refuted claims that Donda and Sithole had engaged in a scuffle, which led the police officer to use his gun.
Ntuli says he doesn’t understand how some people convicted of lesser crimes than that of murder are sentenced to life in prison, while Donda gets away with a slap in the wrist. – Report by Maputaland Radio Newsreporter,Archurah Beula.
The woman who kidnapped a six-day-old infant almost a decade ago will know whether she will spend time in jail on Wednesday.
Khanyisile Mkhwanazi-Ngubane pleaded guilty to abducting the child after she was arrested in Daveyton, in Ekurhuleni, last year.
Nhlakanipho’s mother, Fikelephi Mpontshane from Phaweni in Jozini, KwaZulu-Natal, has told the Maputaland Community Radio News team that she is not happy with how things are penning out.
Mpontshane says an investigator told her to go to court on Wednesday, where the kidnapper will be given a suspended sentence.
“I am not happy with that. I want her to be jailed for nine years just as she had done to me or more than that,” she says.
Mkhwanazi-Ngubane pretended to be a social worker when she committed the crime.
She confessed her crime to a social worker, who then contacted the Jozini police.
Sebenzani “Mbube” Sithole’s family in kwaHlabisa Township in Qubukani, northern KwaZulu-Natal, is left with questions after the 24-year-old man fatally shot himself.
The deceased’s brother, Mvuzeni Khanyile, says he was shocked when the mother of Sithole’s child called him in the middle of the night to inform him about the tragedy.
“When we got to Ximbakazi’s place – he had already passed on. We then called the police. We are shocked as we don’t know him as a person who had problems,” says Khanyile.
Sithole’s former girlfriend says it has been a while since they severed their relationship and she was not aware that he was in the area.
“I wasn’t shocked when he just appeared in the window of my bedroom because he was used to doing that,” she says.
“He first said I must shoot myself and I told him to be the one to do it. He then bumped both our heads and I went down. The next thing I saw the room changing colour to greenish. Then he just fell down,” Thando Sokhela adds. She says she had broken up with Sithole because she was tired of his abusive ways. – Report by Maputaland FM journalist, Nokubongwa Xaba.
The community of KwaMtholo in Mtubatuba, KwaZulu-Natal, is breathing a sigh of relief after finding two children who had gone missing.
Sambulo Mchunu (6) and Zanamuhla Mchunu (5) disappeared last week Wednesday on their way home from school, which is half a kilometre away from their abode.
Upon hearing the news, the community formed a search party and went looking for them. The Msane police also roped in the dog unit to assist in the search.
The children were found in a cave in the bushes not far from their home.
The village chief, Mlandeleni Mkhwanazi, says someone had hidden the children there and was feeding them.
KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson, Colonel Thembeka Mbhele, says the children did not show any signs of injury.
They were, however, taken to a health facility for a check-up, just as a precautionary measure.
The children’s grandfather, Nkosinathi Mchunu, has thanked the community – urging the residents to do the same for others should the need ever arise.
Mchunu also urged the perpetrator of this crime to stop their evil deeds.
He has called for calm among community members, saying they must leave the matter to God who will avenge them.
While acknowledging the pain and hardship the rains has brought to some, the Mhlathuze Water, a company that cleans and supplies bulk water to various district municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal, says the recent rains in the province have improved dam levels in the province.
Mhlathuze Water spokesperson, Siyabonga Maphumulo, the two dams they use to supply residents, namely the Goedetrow Dam and the Pongola Port Dam, are however not out of the woods yet.
“Goedetrow Dam has risen to 67.6 million cubic metres and last week it was 66.7 million cubic metres last year while at the same time it was 52.8 million cubic metres and the most famous Pongola Port Dam with Jozini Dam 51 million cubic metres last week it was 48.4 million cubic metres last year it was 43.9 million cubic meters,” he says.
Maphumulo is urging residents to continue using water sparingly.
“We are urging our people to work on water so that we can have it for a long time and those who can afford to pay their water bills must please do so that our municipalities can fix the infrastructure. But for those who don’t know, remember that water is a very important weapon as we face the COVID-19 epidemic, where we desperately need a drop and a drop that means nothing to each person,” Maphumulo concludes.
KwaZulu-Natal recovering from drought that some had described as having been the worst in 100 years.
Authorities have previously said the province would need weeks and weeks of sustained rainfall to refill its fast declining water reservoirs to return to water levels considered safe and sustainable.
The man who hacked his wife to death with a bush-knife in Thobothini, in the Jozini area of KwaZulu-Natal, returns to court on Tuesday.
He appeared briefly in the Ingwavuma Magistrate’s Court on Thursday.
Themba Menyana attacked his wife, Thembi Nyawo (49), while at her neighbour’s house.
Philisiwe Nkomonde says the suspect hacked her first and proceeded to a man they were sitting with in the house, before killing his wife.
“I still do not know how to explain what happened to me. I am still in hospital fighting for my life with something I do not know,” says Nkomonde.
She says Menyana was upset that Nyawo had an affair of which she knew nothing about.
The husband had apparently found out about it after hacking the deceased’s phone.
“Now I am being blamed for something I don’t know. People think I knew that she had an affair. All I know is that Manyawo didn’t want her husband anymore because he was unfaithful and cheating on her. She stayed because of her children. Manyawo died for her children. She would have been out of the marriage for a long time, but for the sake of the children, she stayed,” Nkomonde says.
While blasting social media for distorting facts on the story, Nkomonde also urged women not to stay in abusive relationships because of their children.
Police spokesperson Captain Titus Nsibande says Menyana is the one who notified the police about the tragedy.
Heavy rains continued to wreak havoc in northern parts of KwaZulu-Natal over the weekend.
Some bereaved families couldn’t even bury their loved ones due to flooding rivers.
Raging waters flooded a local bridge, cut off the village of Ophaphasi, in Hlabisa.
The Ngcamu family was forced to return the remains of their relative to a mortuary on Saturday after failing to make their way home.
They tried using the kwaNongoma route to get home, but it was the same issue as bridges in Nzimaneni, iWela and Mankankaneni were also overflowing due to the persistent rains.
On Sunday, the family tried again insisting – they will use all possible means in their disposal to ensure that their loved one is finally laid to rest.
Heavy rains have been lashing parts of the province for weeks now, leaving hundreds of homes in Ophongola and Jozini areas damaged.
The House of Traditional Leaders and the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government have wished King Goodwill Zwelithini of Bhekuzulu a speedy recovery.
The Zulu king is recovering in hospital after he was admitted for unstable glucose treatment.
The Chairperson of the KwaZulu-Natal House of Traditional Leadership, Inkosi Phathisizwe Chiliza, says this is a time for the nation to fast and stop divisions and pray for His Majesty the God of speedy recovery.
“Let me start by thanking the Zulu premier Inkosi Mangosuthu Buthelezi for publishing the king’s stories with great care and ingenuity. Now it is the time for us to unite and even forget about political issues in the country. I have heard that some chiefs have begun fasting, praying for uMdlokombane (the king). We still need uBayede as we know that he is very close to God and perhaps if we pray with one heart even the pandemic, we are faced with will end,” says Chiliza.
The king of AmaZulu was admitted to hospital last week and is said to be doing well.
