Murder plot case deferred

CONFLICT of interest among the accused yesterday led to the postponement of the murder case against a 62-year-old woman and her two children.

The woman is accused with her children and three others of plotting to kill her husband, who is their father.

The accused are the wife, Aletta Mkhwanazi, daughter Ntombifuthi, 30, son Thulani, 27, the daughter’s lover Bheki Dlamini and alleged hit-men Samuel Moyana and Nhlanhla Skhosana.

They allegedly attempted to kill Ephraim Mkhwanazi of Kwaggafontein A in Mpumalanga. The attempts on his life, first with a gun on April 17 and then an axe a week later, failed.

They were meant to apply for bail on their second appearance yesterday, but legal aid attorney Tendani Mulaudzi requested a postponement because there was a conflict of interest among her clients.

According to spokesman for the Limpopo/Mpumalanga region of Legal Aid SA, Isaac Dhludhlu, the two alleged hit-men had applied through the Legal Aid SA “for a judicare [a private attorney hired to take a case on behalf of the Legal Aid] to represent them”.

Mulaudzi would continue representing the three Mkhwanazis, while Dlamini told the court he was going to get his own lawyer.

The murder plot was allegedly hatched after the father gave one of his children documents that included his will for safekeeping.

The case was postponed to Monday.