Soldier’s killers sentenced
Men who murdered PE officer for R10, his trousers and cellphone given 18 to 20 years
THE three young men who robbed and murdered a Port Elizabeth soldier in 2009 have been given lengthy prison sentences. Mlangabezi Leve was walking a family friend’s sons to the Motherwell clinic on March 14 2009 to visit their mother who had been hospitalised after an accident when the three men – Thobelani Nazo, Makaxole Jako and Zamaxolo Tom – attacked him.
They made off with R10, Leve’s cellphone and his trousers. The three were convicted of murder, robbery with aggravating circumstance and robbery.
Yesterday Judge Glenn Goosen sentenced Nazo to 20 years and Jako and Tom – who were 17 at the time of the murder and had to be treated as juveniles – to 18 years each.
Leve’s widow, Nomgcobo Judith, said she felt nothing for the three. “I am not angry anymore. I just feel nothing,” she said.
Leve, who joined the defence force in 1987, was the sole breadwinner of his family and had six children – including twins – who, according to social worker reports, vowed to become soldiers and police officers so that they could kill the men who murdered their father. The family now have to survive on Leve’s R2 500 pension.
The court heard that Leve’s family was close to Lynette Jooste and her family. When Jooste was hospitalised following a car accident, her two sons – now 11 and 14 – asked Leve to escort them to the Motherwell clinic to visit her.
The court heard the three accused first smoked drugs until they passed out and when they woke up decided to go and rob someone as they needed money for more dagga. Tom told a social worker they had done this before when they were bored.
In what Judge Goosen described as “setting after them like a hunting pack”, the men overpowered Leve and pushed the older boy to the ground and covered his face. The younger boy was only searched.
Leve was first stabbed in the back, then in the chest with what Judge Goosen said was “a wound intended to kill him”.
The three men then took his cellphone, R10, a packet of cigarettes and his trousers before fleeing the scene. His cellphone was later sold for R30.
A tearful Jooste, who said she felt responsible for his death, burst into tears after the sentence. She and Nomgcobo embraced and cried together.
Jooste said her 14-year-old son did not want to return to Motherwell after the attack and was now living with his aunt in Uitenhage.
Leve’s daughter Pakama – one of the first people at the scene – said she was haunted by what she had seen that day.