/ 16 January 2008

Murdered KZN woman ‘was state witness in fraud case’

A woman who was shot dead in front of her two children before being robbed of R70 in Pinetown on Wednesday morning had reportedly turned state witness in a Department of Transport fraud case.

Her estranged husband and a family friend claimed barely hours after the shooting that Futhi Ncwane (38) had feared for her life after Transport Department officials implicated in the fraud case had approached her and asked her to change the statement she had made to police.

Popo Ncwane — her estranged husband — said: ”Futhi was going to be a state witness in a fraud case involving the Department of Transport. Futhi was living in fear.”

Earlier, police spokesperson Inspector Solomon Mbele said a man carrying a firearm entered Ncwane’s garden and confronted the domestic worker, who was hanging up washing.

The woman was forced into the home and when Ncwane came out of her bedroom to investigate, she was confronted by a gunman, who, according to Mbele, opened fire.

Close family friend Patrick Mhlongo said that before killing Ncwane, the gunmen forced the family into a bedroom.

”Her children, her mother and the domestic worker watched as Futhi was repeatedly shot … it must have been horrible for the kids,” he said.

Ncwane’s 12-year-old son was busy getting ready for his first day of school for the year when the incident took place.

Mhlongo added that Ncwane was extremely scared days before her death.

He said the fraud case was a bit confusing but that it involved a large sum of money.

”Somebody put a large sum of money into Futhi’s bank account and when the state investigators questioned her about it, she gave them information and turned state witness. She also began naming some people from the Transport Department who were involved in fraud,” said Mhlongo.

”Before her death, those same people she named then began blackmailing Futhi to change her statement … she was very scared for her children and herself,” he said.

Provincial police spokesperson Superintendent Vincent Mdunge said that police were not in a position to connect the murder to the fraud case.

”We want to allow investigators to get to the bottom of it and whether there was any link between the tendering process and her death,” he said.

Mdunge added that investigations had started but that police ”did not want to dilute the crime with side issues that may have a negative effect in court”.

”This is a serious murder case and at this stage, we are not in a position to connect the two,” Mdunge said.

Transport Department spokesperson Nonkululeko Mbatha said she would check on the family’s claims and would comment on the matter shortly. — Sapa