VUYO MKIZE
A FTER refusing to drop rape charges, a young Soweto woman was allegedly abducted, raped again, forced to drink poison and strangled.
The Johannesburg High Court heard yesterday how accused Ntombifuthi Ntombela had also tried to get a traditional healer to chop up Nobuhle Zungu’s body and sell parts for muti. Ntombela was heavily pregnant at the time.
The state alleges that Zungu had opened a rape case against Ntombela’s boyfriend, Siphiwe Khanyile, in July 2010. Ntombela, who wanted Zungu to drop the case, went looking for her at her Snake Park home in the afternoon.
Zungu’s father, Morgan Shezi, told her his daughter was somewhere in the neighbourhood. After finding Zungu, Ntombela went with her to her shack in Doornkop, where Ntombela’s co-accused, Jacob Mkhwevu, raped Zungu.
Thereafter Mkhwevu and Ntombela tied her hands and legs, suffocated her and forced her to drink a poisonous substance. Zungu died of poisoning and strangulation.
Yesterday, Felisberto Ngobeni, a traditional healer who lives in Doornkop, told the court that Ntombela came to him on the evening of August 11, 2010 demanding that they chop up Zungu’s body.
“It was around 8pm and I was sitting at my house when a short woman, light in complexion, who was heavily pregnant, came to my house. She asked me if I was a traditional healer and I said ‘Yes’. She asked me to follow her to her house, and that she had killed a woman and wanted me to chop her body parts, which I could sell for muti.”
After refusing Ntombela’s offer, she left, and Ngobeni went to his neighbour Julius Tivane’s house to tell him what had just happened.
Tivane told the court yesterday how he had seen a woman enter his neighbour’s house and, after 10 minutes, she had left the house, and Ngobeni walked over to his home and related the story.
Tivane said that from the description of the woman Ngobeni had given him, he said he knew the woman as well as Zungu’s father. Tivane called Shezi and told him his daughter had been murdered.
Mkhwevu was allegedly promised a minibus by Khanyile to kill Zungu so that the charges against him could be withdrawn.
Mkhwevu has pleaded not guilty to charges of rape and murder, while Ntombela – who is charged with murder – also pleaded not guilty to a charge of murder. She said, however, she was there when Mkhwevu tied up Zungu and poisoned her.
Constable Solly Tloti, who had been on duty at the Dobsonville police station that night, told the court:
“We had to forcibly open the door to the shack, which had been locked. When we got inside, we saw that Zungu’s hands and legs were tied. Her trousers were partially removed. We saw some used condoms next to her legs. There were also half-full alcohol bottles.”
Shezi, Zungu’s father, was the last to testify yesterday. He revealed that his family was in fact related to Ntombela. “Her elder sister is married to my cousin brother,” he explained.
“Ntombela came to my house in Snake Park and said she wanted to talk to my daughter about dropping the charges against her boyfriend. I told her she wasn’t home and was around the neighbourhood. She left to find her,” he continued.
Shezi said he received a call at about 8pm from Tivane telling him to go to the Dobsonville police station because his daughter had been killed.
“Her death has been very painful, it’s a sore wound that will never heal,” he said softly.
The trial continues.