Sadly, far too many cruel murders shook the Makana community during 2009. In March, a double murder and an attempted murder in Cradock Heights shocked local residents.
Sadly, far too many cruel murders shook the Makana community during 2009. In March, a double murder and an attempted murder in Cradock Heights shocked local residents.
Mthunzi Banga, a 24-year old man, used a knife to savagely kill 52-year-old mother of two, Boniswa Mzizi Manzi at her employers’ home.
Banga then fatally stabbed well-known businessman and body-builder, Andrew Jevons. He also slashed at Jevons’ wife, Sophie and wounded Pastor Derek Hageman who had come to help the Jevons.
After two stints at Fort England for an evaluation of his mental capacity, Banga was convicted of murder and attempted murder and sentenced to two life sentences and 26 years in jail.
Popular ANC Youth League secretary, Oscar Dondashe, was robbed and shot dead on his way home from a tavern in Tantyi on the morning of 12 July. His passing provoked an enormous outpouring of grief among ANCYL supporters and residents from the area where he lived. Zolani Myeki was arrested and accused of murdering Dondashe for his cell phone.
An estimated 500 local residents, including school learners, took part in an anti-crime march to coincide with Myeki’s bail hearing. Sensing the anger of the crowd at the courtroom, Myeki did not request bail. His case has been postponed for further investigation to 28 January, 2010.
In a single tragic week in November, three unrelated murders took place in our area. The lives of Reverend Clive Newman, Andrew Reynolds and Constable Chunyiswa Zamani were prematurely extinguished.
Reynolds, a Port Alfred businessman was found dead with a bullet wound in his head at Boskeydell Farm on 9 November.
Jeremiah Yengeni, the farm worker who had discovered Reynolds’ body, said "I saw blood on the carpet, the curtains and the bed when I was in the doorway. He was lying on his side facing the door. The blankets covered him up to his torso. He was not wearing anything on his upper body. I got the shock of my life.”
Reynolds was in financial difficulties at the time of his death as his business was on the verge of liquidation.
The community around the College of the Transfiguration in Grahamstown struggled to come to terms with the murder of Reverend Clive Newman.
Police spokesperson Inspector Sherolene Williams said Newman’s body was covered with a duvet when it was discovered in his bed. "On further investigation it was found that the deceased’s head appeared to have been severely injured due to some form of force applied to it."
Bongani Paulos was arrested three weeks later and charged with the murder of Newman. Paulos pleaded guilty to murder and theft and was sentenced to 12 years in prison for murder and four years for theft.
Two days after the bodies of Newman and Reynolds were discovered, police found the bullet-riddled body of Constable Chunyiswa Zamani on the road between Peddie and Grahamstown. It appears that she was in a VW Jetta that was hi-jacked by a group of four armed men.
Police Captain Mali Govender said "Members of the Grahamstown Dog Unit who were also involved in the search, sighted the vehicle parked on a gravel road off the N2 approximately 30km from Grahamstown.
A few metres from where the vehicle was parked in a small clearing, the lifeless body of a female was found with gunshot wounds."
At the time of going to print, no arrests have been in connection with this murder.
In early November, a lovers’ tiff between Simphiwe Ralo and his girlfriend Mandisa Xashimba culminated in the death of Mandisa’s mother, Nomathemba Xashimba. It was reported that when Nomathemba tried to intervene in the squabble, an enraged Ralo poured petrol over his girlfriend’s mother and set her alight.
Xashimba died at Settlers Hospital after suffering from third degree burns. The trial has been postponed till next year.
Furthermore, the normally peaceful beach town of Kenton-on-Sea did not escape violence this year. On 23 November, Juan Jansen, the owner of a local supermarket was walking with his wife to deposit the weekend’s takings in a nearby bank when he was confronted by a gang of gun toting robbers. He threw his money at the robbers after one of them shot him in the leg. Taking the money the robbers then shot him in the chest.
Police have so far arrested only one suspect of the gang that is believed to have come from Port Elizabeth.
Two murders in one weekend stunned the small farming town of Alexandria only one week ago. The former mayor of the town, Thembile Bethe died in a hail of bullets outside his own farmhouse, De Tuine in what appears to have been a politically motivated hit.
Eyewitnesses say that an Afrikaans speaking man in a white bakkie who had been following Bethe’s vehicle suddenly opened fire when he stopped outside his home.
Two boys found the body of Johan Potgieter in a seven metre deep hole near a petrol station in Alexandria on Monday, 14 December. His wife says she left him drinking at a tavern on Friday evening, but only reported him missing on the Monday. Police have not revealed any information about the possible cause of death.
We hope that people do not find it necessary to resort to such terrible violence in the coming year.
