MBOMBELA – Ms Angel Mahlalela cried softly from where she sat in the Eastern Circuit High Court in Mbombela. The man who robbed her home and killed her sister in 2012 was finally sentenced to life in prison. According to Mahlalela, nothing less than life imprisonment would do. Although Mandla Mahlalela will now be locked up forever, his accomplices are still on the loose.
She spoke to Lowvelder after Mandla Mahlalela was sentenced. “The other four men who attacked us are still running free. And so are my thoughts and my fears. These thoughts and fears are racing all the time and it’s terrible. I’ve become a prisoner of my own mind since that night.”
Angel Mahlalela briefly recounted what had happened on the night of August 16, 2012. After saying their evening prayers, she, her life partner, Mr Sam Mathebula, her son, Themba and her sister, Ms Elinor Mathonsi, went to their rooms for the night. Five men broke into her house by shattering the kitchen window. They tied the five up in their respective rooms using scarves, coat hangers and electrical cords and robbed them of cellphones, cash and a Toyota motor vehicle.
Read the full report on the robbery: woman suffocated with her own skirt, man sentenced to life in prison
After they had left, she managed to free herself and untie Mathebula. They untied his son and the three entered Mathonsi’s room where they discovered that she had been suffocated. Her skirt was stuffed into her mouth.
During Wednesday’s earlier court session, the trauma of what they encountered was clearly visible on Angel Mathebula’s face. The mention of the fateful night’s events brought the stately, graceful woman to tears. However, she composed herself every time. When she spoke, it was in a soft and tender, but articulate way.
“I don’t trust people any longer. I don’t trust anyone,” she admitted. “I am always looking over my shoulder. When someone walks past my house, I look at them twice, wondering if it could be one of the four remaining suspects that are still out there. When someone passes me in the street, I look twice. When I drive my car, when I walk past you… It’s every minute of every day.”
Perpetually living in fear has taken its toll on her health. “It’s as if something heavy is pressing down on my chest.
My breathing has become irregular.” As she says this, she is overcome by something more than emotion. It is as if a wave of intense stress takes hold of her. She inhales sharply, blinks a few times and puts her hand on her heart.
“My heartbeat accelerates at times. This worried me to such an extent that I went to the doctor.” Stress has resulted in her suffering a minor stroke and as a result the left side of her body has been affected. “It doesn’t work as well as it used to – it’s a bit slower than my right side.”
However, it is not the physical setback that interferes with her career the most. She is a visual-arts teacher. “My learners are grade eights. Some of them are boys – in fact, at that age they are becoming young men. I love my job. It has always been a driving force in my life and I care for the children. But I find that I am scared of my own pupils – the bigger boys who are starting to resemble men. They often startle me.”
The couple say they struggle to sleep at night. “We wake up at night – time after time, thinking that there is a burglar in the house,” Mathebula says. He will get up and inspect the house, only to find that there is nobody. They have burglar-proofed their home since the incident. Every door, window and even the verandas have been secured with burglar bars. Yet they can’t shake off the fear.
The events of that night envelop Themba Mathebula like a dark cloud – he has failed his first semester in human resources at the Nkangala FET college in eMalahleni and is now trying again. He wants to work for the traffic department.
Angel Mahlalela and Mathonsi’s mother, who will turn 65 this year and needs special care, used to live with Mathonsi, who was also her caretaker. “She lives with us now,” Mahlalela says. “We have all been affected by this terrible thing in so many ways.” The effects of murder are irreversible. No deceased person can be brought back to life. The family went through hell, saw death and are now burdened with a different life.
It is with dignity, strength and sometimes with a quiet sadness that Angel Mahlalela has dealt with daily life since her sister’s passing. It is through her inner strength, faith and support structure that she will endure.
