Murder case of a Taxify driver still unsolved

A YEAR after the brutal killing of a Durban Taxify driver in Johannesburg, leads in the murder investigation have dried up, leaving police at a dead end.

And after a year fighting for justice for Siyabonga Ngcobo, his family say they have made peace with this fact.

Ngcobo, of Inanda, a final-year sports management student at the Tshwane University of Technology, was allegedly kidnapped and locked inside the boot of his Taxify car in March last year, before it was set alight.

Police spokesperson Captain Daniel Mavimbela said all leads that police followed up had not lead to a breakthrough in the case.

“That is why we are still appealing to anyone who might have information to come forward,” he said.

Ngcobo’s aunt Buhle Mbonambi said she did not believe that police did enough in investigating her nephew’s brutal murder.

Mbonambi said there were leads she knew of that she believed were not followed thoroughly by police.

“I was told by the investigating officer that they had a list of suspects, as well as their cellphone numbers. I have asked police several times why those suspects on that list were never brought in for questioning,” she said.

Mbonambi said she had previously been adamant to get to the bottom of what had happened to her nephew, and who was responsible.

She said she had made contact with various people who witnessed different parts of the crime.

“These are people including the boy my nephew picked up before the incident, as well as a girl who was with the boy when he picked him up. There are also bystanders – a young boy and his grandmother – who witnessed people setting the car alight,” she said.

Mbonambi said she was aware of a woman, who had heard the suspects arguing about the murder at a park.

“The lady went to the police station and said she had been seated on a bench at a park when a group of men came and sat as well and began arguing in Shona, fighting about killing him. One was shouting, asking the others why they had to kill him.

“People saw these men, but now they (police) say no leads led to a breakthrough. I don’t believe them,” said Mbonambi.

“Maybe God has other plans for how we will get justice,” she said.

Mavimbela said Mbonambi’s sentiments did not change the fact that the leads had not led to a breakthrough in the case.