Qumbu accused cite age, overcrowding in pleas
Three of the five men accused of killing four men in Qumbu cited their age and overcrowded prisons as reasons they should be granted bail when they appeared in the town’s magistrate’s court yesterday.
Retired prison assistant director Makhosoxolo Noranga, 61, his son Nyameko Noranga, 33, Mthuthuzeli Sydwell Thungata, 64, Mkhukhwini Colomas Dlepu, 67, and Gugulethu Goodman Ndzuzo, 57, are charged with the killings.
The bodies of the four young men were found in an open field near Mbensa village in Qumbu on May 19.
All the accused are members of the local policing forum, which Thungata chairs.
Thungata is also a village subheadman and Apostolic Faith Mission Church senior pastor.
Ndzuzo abandoned his application, while Makhosoxolo Noranga testified on Tuesday.
However, the accused’s lawyer, Sithemele Tshitshi, chose to submit affidavits from Nyameko Noranga, Thungata and Dlepu yesterday.
In the affidavits, they said prison conditions were risky for their health.
“My health is deteriorating and this makes me more vulnerable to coronavirus,” said Thungata. “Since we have been incarcerated, we have been taking tablets without water. There is no water to wash. The situation is dire. There is overcrowding and social distancing is impossible. It’s unhygienic, bad for my health.”
All the accused will plead not guilty.
The accused said they were arrested with eight others, mostly young people, but they did not know how those people had been released.
Thungata said “the police are sacrificing us because of our old age and chronic ailments. The want us to die in prison.”
All the accused said they did not take part in the killings. Thungata and Nyameko Noranga said they had not been part of stock theft night patrols on the night when the young men were killed.
Makhosoxolo Noranga said on Tuesday he had been part of a patrol that came across the five men and had asked them what they were doing.
In the affidavits read out in court, Noranga and Dlepu apparently went to report the matter to Thungata as subheadman. They said they left the five men alive.
“We went to investigate and found a group of about 20 men. The situation was chaotic. We were not told why there was shooting. But we were assured that the youths were safe. I was shocked to learn that bulletriddled bodies of the four young men were found in the open field,” said Thungata.
Magistrate Vuyisa Dyomfana postponed the matter to tomorrow.