‘He left his job to be with his family because he missed us. Sadly, he travelled all the way from Mpumalanga to his brutal death in Ikageng.’
Heartbroken, Moneoang Nokana uttered these words after her husband’s close friend kept hitting him over the head with a hammer until he died. The victim, Makoane Qaba, was a Lesotho national and a contract builder. The man, who has been described as peace-loving, met his tragic death at about 18:00 on that fateful Sunday. Ironically, he was intervening in a fight between the accused and his girlfriend. ‘This was not the first time that he went to a woman’s aid during a domestic fight. He has also defended other women against their abusive lovers. He always said he despised a man who beats up a woman,’ his widow said tearfully.
According to her, she was coming back from a friend’s house when she saw her husband’s close friend attacking someone with a hammer. ‘I shouted at him to stop and, when he saw me, he ran away. When I got closer, I saw that it was my husband lying dead on the ground,’ she said.
Qaba’s extensive head injuries have traumatised his neighbours who heard the quarrels and witnessed the incident. They say they cannot sleep because of the horrific sight. Omphemetse Kuduntwane, who rents a shack in the same yard as the accused heard the couple fighting. When Makoane intervened, she saw the accused turn on him, follow him outside and assault him with a hammer. Brenda Sehume, the next-door neighbour says he was not supposed to die this way.
The widow says she will miss her husband dearly. ‘We were inseparable but he loved our one-year-old daughter, Relebohile even more. She was his number one and he sacrificed everything for her,’ she said with a smile.
She says her family will never be the same again. ‘I wish death upon the accused and want him to spend the rest of his life in prison because he has ripped our family apart. If he is released, I hope he dies more brutally than my husband did. I will hunt him down if he is released; he must rather finish off all of us in the family,’ she said bitterly. The family, which is originally from Lesotho, says they have no money to transport their loved one to Lesotho or travel to the Mountain Kingdom.
‘We cannot even afford a coffin and we can’t bear to see him spend a month in the mortuary. We want to have a decent funeral for him,’ said Moneoang. Anyone who would like to assist the family should call Moneoang Nokana on 078 710 7080 or the victim’s sister Matseu on 071 963 9510. The Ikageng SAPS spokesperson, Sgt. Kelebogile Trom confirmed the incident and says the 24-year-old accused (also a Lesotho national) was arrested the same night. In what appears to be a revenge attack, his shack was set alight a few hours later. ‘At this stage, the police do not have any leads on who was responsible,’ she said.
