This story grabbed my attention the moment it circulated on social media that a man living in the Pinetown area had murdered the mother of his child.

I immediately contacted the police to verify and confirm the information shared on social media and once it was, I closely followed the story from Sikhumbuzo Zungu’s arrest for the murder of Babongile Nkonyeni to his first appearance in court.

I met Babongile’s family, her mother Sibongile Shezi, and her sisters Phumla and Thokozani Nkonyeni when Zungu made his first appearance at the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court in 2025, a few days after he was arrested on October 28 of that year.

Babongile’s family members were visibly distraught when I met them outside the court precinct. Her mother, Sibongile, had travelled from Umzinto to Pinetown for Zungu’s court appearance.

Sibongile and her daughter Thokozani recounted the pain they felt when they received the news that Babongile and been found dead.

Thokozani said on the day of the murder, October 26, she had unsuccessfully tried to contact Babongile throughout the day until later that evening when she heard the tragic news.

Babongile’s family members attended court every single time Zungu made an appearance, sometimes not all of them at once, but for every appearance he made, one or two of Babongile’s family members were present.

At some point, Babongile’s family felt as though the matter was taking longer than necessary as it suffered one delay after the other.

Eventually the trial got underway and to the relief of Babongile’s family members it was not delayed any further because Zungu pleaded guilty.

Babongile’s family, however, was taken by surprise when after his guilty plea and being found guilty by the regional court, Zungu, in his mitigation of sentence arguments, urged the court to consider handing him down a sentence of 10 years, with half of these suspended.

Also read: Man sentenced to life for murder of child’s mother in Pinetown

Among other points, Zungu, through his legal representative, had argued that by pleading guilty he had not wasted the court’s time, urging the court to view this as an exceptional circumstance warranting the court to deviate from the prescribed minimum sentence of life behind bars.

Another circumstance raised by Zungu was that he is a father of five children.

I followed the story for the Highway Mail from 2025 to 2026 when Zungu was eventually sentenced to life imprisonment.

During that period, I saw a family that looked to the court for justice for their daughter and sister. Even when the delays wore on their patience, they kept returning to court, waiting for the fateful day when the presiding officer would finally hand down a judgement.

The patience, resilience, hope and support for their murdered loved one is what made an impression to me as Babongile’s family never missed a court date.  

For me, it is also what community journalism is about, it is about telling the story of a local family left in confusion and pain after their loved one is murdered by a man they have a child with, a story similar to many that make headlines across the country, with the faces of victims honoured in one or another, whilst this local family’s pain goes on unnoticed.

On World News Day, this is the story I think of.

A story about a family who never stopped believing that justice will be served.

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