Killer Khoza gets it easy

By Mandla Khoza

The widow of slain chief whip of the Ehlanzeni district municipality in Mpumalanga says it’s “disgusting” that her husband’s killer was sentenced to just 20 years in jail.
Life Khoza, 22, was convicted in the Nelspruit circuit of the Pretoria High Court on Tuesday for the murder of Johan Ndlovu.
He was given another 15 years for armed robbery. The sentences will run concurrently and he will not be given the option of parole.
Speaking to journalists outside the court, Ndlovu’s widow, Nikiwe Ndlovu, commended the police for their work, but was scathing about the sentence.
“I commend the work that the police have done in this case, but the justice system of this country is disgusting. How can they sentence someone based on the fact that he has one child while he has killed a man who had four children?” she said, weeping.
During sentencing, Judge Cynthia Pretorius said that the state was lenient towards Khoza because he had pleaded guilty to the murder during his trial on October 3 and that he promised to work with police to bring his accomplices to book. They are still at large.
She said it was also his first criminal offence.
The judge also dismissed media reports that Ndlovu’s murder was politically motivated.
“According to evidence brought in court this was an armed robbery that ended up being murder. It is clear that the murder was not planned,” said Pretorius.
The late chief whip was found dead in a field near his home in Edinburgh village (also known as Luphungu) in Thulamahashe, Bushbuckridge, on January 5. His was one of the January Murders in which three government officials were killed in the province in three consecutive years since 2009.
Khoza was arrested with other two suspects, Bongani Mkasi, 27, and Mundi Khoza (not related to the killer), 22, on January 7.
Mkasi and Mundi, who have not yet been asked to plead to three charges of murder, armed robbery and possession of an unlicensed firearm, will be tried in April next year.
Charges were dropped against a fourth suspect, former police reservist at the Calcutta police station in Mkhuhlu, John Ndlovu, 35 (not related to the late chief whip) to lack of evidence.
During his trial last week, Khoza told the court that Mkasi and Mundi were not involved in the murder.
“I was with three people and none of them is here in this court,” he said.
He said he and the three men had been drinking and saw the chief whip pull his car to the side of the road to relieve himself.
“We wanted to rob him, but when he resisted one of the two men I was with shot him,” said Khoza.
He said the chief whip was still alive when he was locked in his car boot after he was shot.
He said the three of them drove away and dumped him in bushes, which turned out to be just a few meters from his house.
“We took him while he was alive and drove while he was in the boot of his car, then dumped him and fled with the car,” testified Khoza.
He then asked the state and family for forgiveness.
He also admitted that he answered the chief whip’s phone when his wife called him.
“I answered the call from his wife and directed her to her husband as I thought he was still alive,” said Khoza.
He again promised to help police find his real accomplices.
Mpumalanga police spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Leonard Hlathi welcomed the sentence.
“We are happy with the judgement. I want to say that 20 years in prison without an option to a parole is not easy,” Hlathi told journalists outside court.
Hlathi also said that Khoza’s testimony that Mkasi and Mundi were not involved in the murder would not affect the case.
“These two men in police cells are still suspects. We will not just drop all what we have worked for. We believe we still have a case against them, but we will investigate what he raised during the testimony,” he said.
The chief whip’s brother, Eric Ndlovu, insisted that the murder was planned and the suspects were paid to kill his brother.
“The judge says the murder was not planned. She doesn’t know; she’s just being racist. These men are from Mkhuhlu. Why did they come drink around our area? They were paid. They just wanted to get drunk and kill,” he said.
Meanwhile, the National Prosecuting Authority has confirmed that the January Murders were politically motivated and needed special attention.
Besides Ndlovu, the other murders include those of former spokesman of the department of culture, sports and recreation Sammy Mpatlanyane and Mbombela local municipality speaker Jimmy Mohlala.
On January 14, national police commissioner Bheki Cele announced that he had appointed a team of 12 highly trained officers from four provinces to get to the bottom of the murders.
On Wednesday, three foreign suspects accused of murdering Mpatlanyane are scheduled to appear in the Nelspruit magistrate’s court for a trial date to be set. – AENS