Gloria Bongiwe Mzileni,the mother of Thabo Mzileni. Photo: Brandon Van Der Mescht Gloria Bongiwe Mzileni,the mother of Thabo Mzileni. Photo: Brandon Van Der Mescht
Lauren Isaacs
FIVE men accused of necklacing a 19-year-old man appeared briefly in the Khayelitsha Magistrate’s Court yesterday, where it emerged that some of them had confessed to the crime.
It is alleged that Pule Hendricks, 29, Mziyanda Mqumbisa, 22, Mzwanele Mvabaza, 47, Bongile Gongxeka, 25 and Sibongile James, 22, killed Thabo Mzileni in the early hours of March 24.
According to the charge sheet, the five killed Mzileni after they thought he had robbed a woman in Khayelitsha. The charge sheet said the woman had told the five it was not Mzileni who had robbed her.
The case was postponed to May 8 for formal bail applications.
However, yesterday the court heard that the State would oppose bail.
Mzileni was the eighth man to be killed in five vigilante attacks in Khayelitsha in less than three weeks.
His body was found with his hands and legs bound and a tyre and concrete drain cover on his chest.
Mzileni’s mother, Gloria Mzileni, told the Cape Times her son went to a party in D Section, Khayelitsha on the night before he was murdered.
“We don’t know what exactly happened, but we were told by police that a girl from D Section complained of being robbed.” The men she complained to attacked Thabo, although she said it was not he who robbed her.
The detective said one of the men then told the girl: “It doesn’t matter, a skollie is a skollie, he can pay,” said Mzileni’s sister, Zola Sogwagwa.
Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa addressed the Khayelitsha community last week and spoke about vigilantism and xenophobia.
He said communities should help police and law enforcement authorities with crime fighting in their areas rather than resorting to “senseless killings”.
lauren.isaacs@inl.co.za