Durban — Two Durban fathers spoke to the media outside the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court on Monday, sharing their pain after their daughters were shot and killed, allegedly by a police officer.
Mlungisi Blessing Sikhakhane, 27, is alleged by the State to have been in a relationship, first with Sithembile Ngobese and then with Enhle Majozi. He is alleged to have killed them on Friday in KwaNyuswa.
“If this person who did what he did to my daughter walks I would have totally lost confidence in our justice system,” said Majozi’s father, Sandile Msomi.
On Monday Sikhakhane, who is said to be based at the Hillcrest Police Station, made his first appearance in court. The case was adjourned to next Tuesday for his bail application.
Msomi said his 18-year-old daughter would have celebrated her 19th birthday in December, adding that five days before her murder she told them about having broken off her relationship with the accused.
“We had a close bond, so she was able to tell me that there was a person who had come into her life but very quickly she advised me that she was done with the relationship.
“She said that she was sick of this person. He had been trying to contact her against her will, threatening that he would wait for her to come outside, but despite being scared, she decided to go out and handle it.”
Majozi had taken a gap year after matriculating from Wyebank Secondary School.
Msomi said Majozi had not gone to lay charges with police when the accused allegedly threatened her, adding that the two had been dating for less than five months.
“It hadn’t got to a point where he was threatening her life. I think he was just crazy on his own terms. When my daughter came to learn of this madness it was too late to do anything about it, but she did try to evade it by ending the relationship.”
Ngobese, according to her high school friend, had been in a long-term relationship with the accused since 2014.
“I was depending on her, that she was going to make something of her life because I can no longer be employed anywhere after being wounded. I am weak. If I still had the strength I would get hold of him with my bare hands and deal with this person who killed my child so brutally,” said Sithembile’s father Isaac Ngobese.
He said he had known that his daughter had been in a long-standing relationship with someone but had not met him – until Monday.
Ngobese said while he hoped for justice to be served, he had little faith in the justice system, adding that this was evident in the number of women killed daily in South Africa.
“Often their killers end up free. If the same happened here it would not shock me. This will then force me to question what action I will take because I could end up taking the law into my own hands, deviating from my Christian ways.”
He said his daughter, 24, who matriculated from a Clermont high school, had been studying law.
Ngobese said that in 2017 and 2018 he survived shootings in which he sustained 14 bullet wounds as a result of the two attacks. He added that Sithembile’s murder has brought it all back.
“I’m heartbroken over her killing … ”
Ngobese said while he knew that his daughter had been killed brutally he had not seen her body.
“Right now I’m going to the mortuary, I will then see how many times she was shot. The country’s justice system must play its role because this man is not the kind of man that should be allowed back into society.”
Daily News