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.
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.
The family of a six-year-old boy, initially reported to be five, who was shot and wounded in Alexandra recently says the police should take responsibility for the incident.
Gontse Mathebula was walking to a nearby spaza shop when police allegedly started shooting at suspected hijackers.
Mathebula was hit by a stray bullet in his thigh. He was taken by his uncle to a nearby clinic and was later transferred to hospital.
One suspect was fatally wounded in the incident, while others fled on foot.
In a preliminary statement – police deny shooting the child and say he was knocked down by a car.
The police say it is unfortunate that the community believes that the law enforcement officials are lying. – Report by Voice of Wits newsreader and producer, Lehlohonolo Malapane.
A young woman was raped in Lephalale, Limpopo, on Wednesday as she was reportedly hitchhiking near the bridge on R33 (VaalWater Road).
The victim was hitch-hiking to Modimolle at around 12h00 when a man unknown to her joined her and pretended to be hitchhiking too.
He then allegedly grabbed her and started to hit her with stones before tying her up and raping her.
The alleged perpetrator immediately fled the scene after the committing the crime.
The victim told police that she suspects the perpetrator to be a Zimbabwean because of his dialect.
As a search for the suspect continues, police are appealing to anyone who may have information on the matter to report to the Lephalale Community Service Centre on: 079 8896247, crime stop on: 0860010111, or to the nearest police station. – Report from Waterberg FM news.
A recent confrontation between police and churchgoers in Sebokeng Zone 7, in Gauteng, has raised eyebrows.
Police used stun grenades and rubber bullets to disperse church members who had gathered in defiance of the country’s adjusted COVID-19 regulations, which prohibits religious gatherings.
The Council of African Independent Churches (CAIC) has expressed disbelief at the incident and condemned the police’s action.
“We strongly believe that the matter could have been handled differently as opposed to discharging rubber bullets and stunt grenades to defenceless and unarmed congregants, as alleged. Each time that Christians are treated this way, CAIC will cry out and declare “Not Again” and condemn such actions! We ask all institutions to find other ways of resolving problems other than violence,” says CAIC Secretary General, Bishop TS Ngcana.
The organisation has also lambasted the concerned churches and their leaders for violating lockdown regulations.
Ngcana says the country is in the midst of a resurgence of COVID-19 infections and urges the public to adhere to lockdown laws that are aimed “at protecting and preserving lives and livelihood.”
Ngcana says the church, in particular, should commit to these regulations, without giving in.
“The Council condemns the horrendous way in which the congregants were invited to attend a prohibited gathering and subsequently treated by police. In the circumstances, CAIC continues to promote the correct and consistent wearing of cloth face-mask, social distancing and hand hygiene, to name a few.
These measures must be sustained including but not limited to ensuring that our homes and churches should be well ventilated because the virus lingers in the air for some time,” says Ngcana. – Report by Puisano News
Shallcross suspected drug kingpin Yaganathan Pillay has been laid to rest.
Community members came out in their numbers to pay their last respects.
Teddy Mafia's funeral is nothing short of opulence and extravagance. The community is all out paying their respects. Thugs are always revered and looked up to in communities, I thought this only happened in the locations amongst Black People.
I think I saw that animal that chopped off 2 people heads with an axe in broad daylight and on camera walking about at the funeral. #TeddyMafiapic.twitter.com/NGtpnc8D4I
Law enforcement officials were deployed to monitor proceedings, a move which raised the ire of some South Africans.
Money will always be power and the driving force to the SA justice system, in the cost of its people. What good justice system lets a man they found with drugs worth R5 Million go free. Even this funeral shows #TeddyMafia had all the badge boys on payroll. SAPS is a joke.
it's very disturbing how the gov't encourage gangsterism by sending police to these funerals ,Also the media are enablers of gangsterism for covering and giving these funerals airtime, unbelievable that they're airing this #TeddyMafia funeral, very strange and bizarre
Members of a stokvel in uPhongolo, in the Qaqeni area of KwaZulu-Natal, are reeling from shock after they were robbed of the money they had saved for months for Christmas family festivities.
An undisclosed amount of cash was stolen when two unknown armed men stormed the house they were gathered in to distribute the funds.
One of the victims, Cebisile Nxumalo, says she is devastated and still can’t believe that their money is gone.
Ward 5 councilor, Twister Mavimbela, is urging the public to prioritise its safety at this time of the year.
She has called on stokvel group members to either distribute funds from the bank and transfer them into members’ bank accounts or ask law enforcement agencies for assistance.
While the incident is said to have been the first in uPhongolo, the stealing of stokvel money has become a trend in South Africa, especially this time of the year.
According to incidents reported to the South African Banking Risk Information Centre (SABRIC) between 2014 and 15 December 2017, 53 stokvel robbery incidents were reported, with 77% of incidents occurring during the festive season.
The centre has also advised South Africans to find safer ways to transact, such as internet transfers or mobile banking, instead of carrying large amounts of cash. Report by Archurah Beula a Maputaland Community Radio Journalist
The parents of a young boy from Jozini, in KwaZulu-Natal, who was kidnapped when he was six days old are over the moon after the child’s safe return home.
They have thanked the Shembe prophet, known as the king of Nazareth uNyazilwezulu, to whom they went to consult for help. The couple says Nyazilwezulu promised them that the boy would return home safely one day. A prophecy that has come true.
Nhlakanipho is now nine years old.
He was abducted by a woman who had promised to help his mother register his birth.
She was visiting Jozini at the time of the crime and while on their way to the home affairs department – Khanyisile, the kidnapper, asked Nhlakanipho’s mother to go buy something to eat at the nearby shops before disappearing with the boy.
The father of the child, Thokozani Gumede, has told Maputaland Community Radio News that they had spent a lot of money trying to find Nhlakanipho.
Nhlakanipho’s mother, Fikelephi Mpotshane-Gumede, has thanked the Jozini police and everyone who has tried helping them find their son.
She has warned young women not to trust strangers with their children. Mpotshane-Gumede has also called on young people to draw closer to God and forget the pleasures of the world.
The former boyfriend of the alleged kidnapper, Joseph Ndala, lived with the boy in Daveyton, eMaphupheni, and says he loved the boy like his own child.
He says the child’s abductor also had him fooled, pretending to be a good person while she was in fact a wolf in a sheep skin.
“She poisoned me and the child and then handed herself over to the police. The police came to our home and took me and Nhlakanipho to hospital. The child spent three weeks there and I was discharged after being treated.”
Ndala says Khanyisile confessed to a social worker that she had stolen the child and that’s the only time he learnt the truth about his beloved Nhlakanipho. The kidnapper had previously told him that the child was born of rape.
Ndala is urging other men to learn more about their partners and where they come from before settling down with them.
The spokesperson for the police in Jozini, Captain Senzo Gumede, says they worked tirelessly since 2011 to solve the case.
He has urged members of the public to be patient with the police as they work on other unresolved cases.
The community of Protea Glen, in Soweto, will this evening hold a candlelight prayer service in honour of a 21-year-old woman who was brutally murdered.
The community is still reeling from shock following the grim discovery.
The murder occurred amid a nationwide 16 Days of Activism Campaign for No Violence Against Women and Children.
According to the police, Phuthi was beaten, raped and strangled to death with her pants.
She was identified by her tattoo of a tiger on her neck, a flower tattoo on her right leg and her name on her hand.
It is suspected that she was killed by people she knew.
Her family is calling for justice.
ANC Women’s League (ANCWL) Secretary in ward 135, Nelisiwe Yende, says the candlelight prayer session in Ramara’s honour will be held at 10217 Mount Cash Street Ext 12, Protea Glen at 6pm.
Ramara will be laid to rest on Sunday.
Police spokesperson, Vincent Mashiteng, says no arrests have yet been made in the matter. – Report by Jozi FM News Editor Moshe Maswanganyi
