SEXUAL OFFENCES AGAINST TRADITIONAL HEALER TO BE CENTRALISED
The rape case against well-known East London traditional healer, Mbulelo “Mzi” Qongqo (48), has been postponed to 21 July 2023, by the Mdantsane Magistrates’ Court. The NPA has referred the Mdantsane case docket to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for a decision and centralisation of all his rape cases in different magisterial districts.
Qongqo, a businessman who runs several health facilities and operates as a “certified traditional healer”, was arrested on 09 May 2023 after a 20-year-old woman, who was brought to his practice to be healed opened a rape case at the Mdantsane Thuthuzela Care Centre (TCC). It is alleged that on 16 April 2023, Qongqo took the woman to a gravesite, made her drink a substance unknown to her, and later raped her at a house in Mdantsane. The complainant alleges that she woke up in the house unknown to her while the accused was still sexually assaulting her. She immediately called her parents to pick her up and went to open a case on the same day.
During his bail application, which was successfully opposed by State Advocate Linda Jekwa, it emerged that the husband of three women, Qongqo, has a pending case committed against a 16-year-old client under similar circumstances in Zwelitsha. Investigating Officer Sandile Tongo revealed that the police are investigating a further two cases against Qongqo in addition to another one which was withdrawn in Mdantsane Magistrates’ court after the docket went missing.
The NPA hopes that by centralising the cases, a superior court may eventually sentence the accused to a proportionally punitive sentence.
