A South African National Defence Force corporal and his accomplice — hired by a Pietermaritzburg taxi boss to kill a rival taxi operator — received life sentences in the city’s high court on Tuesday.
The late Jika Joe Dlamini, a taxi boss, paid Corporal Xolani Manyoni (33) and Richard Mathobi (35), a Reconstruction and Development Programme contract worker, R3 000 each to kill a rival, Simphiwe Kansas Mkhize.
Mkhize was shot and fatally wounded in front of his family at his Pietermaritzburg home in May 2002.
Acting Judge Raj Badal berated Manyoni, saying that as a trained soldier it was his duty to uphold the law and protect people.
”Instead you became a hired killer and together with others followed Mkhize around until he was finally cornered and shot. You did it for money. There are no substantial and compelling circumstances to depart from the prescribed life sentence.”
That he did not fire the shot that killed Mkhize did not help him, as he was part of a gang that set out to kill.
The court found that Mathobi fired the fatal shot. Badal told him: ”You and others went to Mkhize’s home and lay in wait for him. When he arrived home, you greeted him like a friend and he responded. Then you shot him in cold blood in front of his children.
”I cannot imagine anything worse than seeing your father shot. You deprived a mother of a son, a wife of her husband and children of their father.”
Former co-accused Bhekizitha Bhengu, also a soldier, who was charged with conspiring with Dlamini, Manyoni and Mathobi to kill Mkhize, absconded and is still being sought. — Sapa