Silence in the court

Community shocked by family murder

DURBAN Magistrate’s Court is feeling the ripple effect of this week’s family murder in Montclair.

“There is a sombre mood,” a wellplaced source told the Independent on Saturday.

“Even now, prosecutors are not running trials because they are so taken aback by (magistrate Bongekile Tenza’s) death.”

She, her partner, court interpreter Sandile Mkhize, and three children aged between 9 and 17, were found dead at their home on Wednesday.

The source said some magistrates were finding it difficult to focus.

Tenza had presided over Court G on the fourth floor. Its door was locked yesterday and notices referred the public to Court D two floors below.

There, magistrate Siwelisiwe Mpanza ordered one person in the dock after the next to report to Court G at 8.30am on the day of their next appearance.

Word came from Court 10, one floor down, that officials were “really devastated” about Mkhize, who worked in the court as an interpreter.

A woman in the gallery, who had come to support her nephew in court, said she, too, was from Montclair and had recognised Mkhize when her sister’s son made his first appearance.

“We in Montclair are so shocked. They were such a humble family. Shame man. This is such a sad thing to have happen.”

Chief magistrate EB Ngubane posted a notice in the court about the “untimely passing of Ms B Tenza and her family”, calling on her colleagues to gather to pay tribute to them.

“You will be notified in due course of the date for the memorial service as well as funeral arrangements.”

According to a report in sister newspaper The Mercury, Mkhize is believed to have shot dead Tenza and children Fezeka, Thabiso and Kwezi, before turning the gun on himself.

Two of the children were from Tenza’s previous marriage and the couple shared one child.

The Mercury reported that a neighbour had said Mkhize often drank and waved his gun around.

“Last year, he pointed a gun at his neighbour and hit him on the back of his head with the butt of the gun. A case was opened against him and he was arrested,” the neighbour was quoted saying.

“The neighbour obtained a restraining order against him.”

Police spokesperson Lieutenant-Thulani Zwane would not release any information on the case, saying it was “at a sensitive stage”.

Meanwhile, the Yellowwood Park Football Club was scheduled to hold a ceremony at which members would stand for a minute’s silence in memory of the oldest child, Fezeka, who was part of the club’s women’s team.

“We’ll all stand in a circle during the interval between the two games,” said chairman Craig Inggs.

Yellowwood Primary School posted on its Facebook page: “We were lucky to share so many of the years of Fezeka, Thabiso and Khwezi’s lives and we are heartbroken that we have lost them so soon and in this way. We miss them and are thinking of them.”