WATCH: Murder victim ‘at the wrong place, at the wrong time’

The mother of one of two victims of a 2023 murderous plan was inconsolable outside the Mtubatuba court precinct on Wednesday after the High Court convicted the two accused.

Handing down judgment, Justice Robin George Mossop found that Mpendulo Mdluli had been ‘at the wrong place, at the wrong time’ when former KwaMbonambi police sergeant Ntombizodwa Ntinga’s plan to murder her husband, late warrant officer Nkosinathi Ntinga, was set in motion on 1 August 2023 by the convicted wife’s lover Mira Khoza and her co-accused Samkelo Mpanza.

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Khoza is a Mozambican national who is reportedly under arrest in his home country for a separate matter.
Ntombizodwa and Mpanza were both convicted for Ntinga and Mdluli’s murders, the ‘senseless’ and ‘unnecessary’ kidnapping of the two friends, and the robbery with aggravating circumstances at the married couple’s homestead at Phathane, KwaMbonambi.

Justice Mossop described Mdluli’s assault with a crowbar – allegedly by Khoza – as a savage beating, and that Mpanza had shown indifference about this.

The late SAPS administrative clerk was left at the roadside as the accomplices fled the scene.

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“In my view, the State established common purpose between accused one [Ntombizodwa], accused two [Mpanza] and Mira [Khoza] to kidnap and murder Ntinga,” said Justice Mossop.

In part of his judgment handed down to Ntombizodwa, Justice Mossop questioned why she had not halted her plan when Mdluli came to visit on the day because he was not the target but rather her husband had been.

Sentencing of the convicted pair is set to continue on Thursday, 27 March.

Gripped by a mixture of feelings of grief for her loss and jubilation over the judgment, Mdluli’s tearful mother, Khanyi, thanked God, her family, her fellow prayer women and congregants who provided constant support, as well as the work of the justice system.

Khanyi said, after her husband’s passing in 2014 Mdluli, who had tied the knot in June of the year he met his untimely demise, had stepped up to become the family’s sole breadwinner.

Watch Khanyi Mdluli speak outside court:

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