Ex-ANCYL leader gets 20-year prison sentence
Victim’s mom would have been happy if Wisani received life
Patrick Wisani, the former Johannesburg ANC Youth League leader who beat his girlfriend Nosipho Mandleleni to death with a sjambok in 2015, received a 20-year prison sentence yesterday.
Judge Mohamed Ismail’s sentence was described as “nothing”, with many in the court saying it was “too light”.
Clad in purple T-shirts distributed before the court resumed‚ members of the public immediately left room 4F in the Johannesburg High Court after the sentencing.
Nosipho’s mother, Noxolo, could not believe the man who killed her daughter would serve only a fraction of the sentence she felt he deserved.
“Twenty years is not enough. I would have been happy if he had been given a life sentence. But any sentence will not bring my daughter back‚” she said.
Noxolo did not leave the courtroom immediately. She leaned against the wall facing the judge’s seat as if she was waiting to see him come back to pronounce a different sentence.
Maurice Smithers of the Yeoville Bellevue No to Gender-Based Violence Coalition shared Noxolo’s sentiments.
“We are disappointed at the sentence because he didn’t show any remorse‚” Smithers said.
“The only time he ever showed emotion was when he was angry. My worry is‚ is he going to learn from this or is he going to come out more angry towards women?”
Ismail found that Wisani had not shown any remorse and was arrogant throughout the trial.
“His behaviour shows disdain towards women. It has no place in our constitutional dispensation‚” Ismail said.
“The manner in which the deceased was beaten indicates that he was propelled by anger. The death was not instantaneous.”
But Ismail said he did not believe Wisani should be sentenced to life imprisonment as there were compelling and substantial circumstances that warranted him to impose a lesser sentence.
These included that Wisani was a first-time offender‚ is intelligent and is capable of being rehabilitated.