Durban — The acting judge presiding over the trial of a Pinetown nurse charged with the murder of her husband was not informed of the resumption of the trial by administrative staff at the Office of the Judge President.
This was despite the State prosecutor having emailed the office months in advance, advising that the trial dates were June 19 to July 7 and asking that the acting judge and assessor be made available.
Acting Judge Bonke Dumisa said in the Durban High Court on Monday: “I’ve not heard anything from the high court since September. It seems there was an administrative lapse. The last time I heard anything about this matter was in September. I did not know I had to come to the high court today. I had to drop everything.”
Nomphumelelo Patricia Goncalves, out on bail, is alleged to have hired her brother, Nkosinathi Steven Zungu – who remains behind bars – to kidnap her husband, Nkosi Timmy Langa, from their Pinetown home and kill him.
The nurse and her brother are on trial for the murder. Goncalves faces two more charges of defeating the course of justice for allegedly falsely reporting her husband missing, and the theft of his car.
A previous State witness and hit man in the matter, James Mashudu “Ramaphosa” Mthimkhulu, had testified before the court how Langa was killed with an electric cord cut from an iron in his home. The cord was put around Langa’s neck and Zungu pulled one end while Mthimkhulu pulled the other.
The trial was adjourned in September last year. At the time, Zungu said his Legal Aid attorney was not Zulu-speaking and he didn’t understand the lawyer. He asked to be represented by a Zulu-speaking lawyer.
In court on Monday, Dumisa said that apart from not being informed about the trial resuming, he also did not know whether issues that had cropped up last year when the matter was adjourned had been resolved or not.
“I will need certainty that things that held up this matter will not occur again,” said Dumisa, who also explained that the assessor was ill with flu and would only be available on Tuesday.
Senior State prosecutor advocate Krishen Shah said all previous issues had been sorted out and Zungu now had new counsel, who was present in court.
Shah told the court: “I wrote to the judge president’s office manager that we are scheduled to start on June 19.
“It is frustrating to hear that the assessor contacted you today. This is a complex murder matter.
“Today was done through arrangements – this must be taken up with the judge president’s office if you have not had any contact from them.
“Clearly, there has been a lapse in the office of the chief justice administratively, specifically with the office of the judge president, but I did send emails.”
Zungu is now represented by Jabulisa Malinga.
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