Tangeni Amupadhi
Nearly four months after Anna Dorothy Marabane’s husband shot her in front of two police officers, her family remains in the dark about what happened in the last few hours of her life.
Her husband, Mokete Marabane, will appear on a murder charge in the Krugersdorp court next week. Family members hope many questions will be answered.
“We don’t know what happened or what is really going on now,” said Sophia Molahlehi, Anna Marabane’s older sister. “A captain at the Kagiso police said he would tell us, but he has not done so until now.”
However, one thing is clear: Marabane saw her death coming.
Marabane, a 35-year-old teacher who kept a diary about her life, took extraordinary steps to prevent her husband from killing her. As it turned out, her life was taken when she thought she was safest – in the company of the police.
According to her diary, Marabane was twice admitted to hospital for stress and depression. She had been to the Family Crisis Centre in Krugersdorp. Marabane had also obtained a court order preventing her husband from assaulting or threatening her and their three children.
Despite the order, Marabane’s husband continued to assault her. He also threatened to kill her and the children.
The police intervened and took Marabane’s husband’s firearm away at her request. But they soon returned the firearm. She was later told the police had no grounds to keep the handgun.
Marabane moved to her parents’ home with her children. Colleagues at the school where she taught claim her husband was monitoring her movements. He would walk around the school, without going near her, they said.
On September 4, two men came to the school demanding that she accompany them as Standard Bank planned to repossess her car. Marabane refused, saying she did not trust them and complained about their aggressiveness.
Soon after the men left, Marabane went to the police station. She pleaded with the police to confiscate her husband’s firearm because she feared he would use it on her.
The investigating officer, Sergeant De Wet Loubscher, told the court that he and a colleague went with Marabane to the couple’s home. They found Mokete Marabane coming from the school and asked him to hand over his weapon. He at first appeared to co-operate, but later told the police he would only hand over the gun to his lawyer. They let him go.
Moments later Anna Marabane stormed into the police station again begging the police to take away her husband’s firearm. This time the station commissioner instructed sergeants Maggy Mabuye and Mandisa Enoch to go with Anna Marabane to disarm her husband.
When they arrived at the house, Mokete Marabane agreed to hand over the gun. He went to the bedroom, but soon returned without it. He then went outside as if to fetch it from the car. The two policewomen were waiting in the living room. Anna Marabane was in the kitchen drinking water.
When Mokete Marabane returned, he held a handgun. From the kitchen door, he aimed at her. Anna Marabane shouted hysterically: “What are you doing?” Without a word, Mokete Marabane shot his wife point blank, in full view of the two officers.
He then walked up to the policewomen, paralysed with shock, and handed them the weapon.
At a bail hearing, Mokete Marabane said he killed his wife because of financial problems. He was refused bail and remains in custody.