TRADITIONAL LEADER SENTENCED TO LIFE FOR MURDER
The Tsomo Regional Court sentenced traditional leader (inkosi) Masibonge Magodla (35) to life imprisonment after convicting him for the murder of an elderly man he accused of bewitching him. The 94-year-old deceased was discovered at his home in the Magodla Administrative Area in the district of Ngqamakhwe covered in blood by his five-year-old great-grandchild, who then alerted the daughter of the deceased who had just come back from the funeral on 19 April 2022. At the time of discovery, no one had any idea who had committed the offence because it happened during the day when most people in the sleepy rural village were at a funeral at the locality.
While community members had gathered in the homestead of the deceased, waiting for police and relevant stakeholders, a young man of that locality approached a family member. He revealed that during the early morning of that day, inkosi Magodla had approached him and other young men of that locality to assist him in carrying out the murder of the deceased because the inkosi was being strangled by the old man in his sleep. He further revealed the names of men who were present when the Chief made this request to them, and they confirmed his version. The investigations were conducted and during investigations clothes that the suspected inkosi Magodla was wearing on the date in question were taken for DNA analysis. The results came back confirming deceased blood was detected on his shoes and the jacket he was wearing.
With the lab results linking Inkosi Magodla to the offence and witness statements placing him at the scene of the crime with a weapon, the police arrested him, and the state successfully opposed bail. During trial, Magodla pleaded not guilty raising an alibi. Regional court prosecutor Tando Ndzube led the evidence of eight witnesses and handed in the post-mortem report and DNA analysis report. Five of those eight witnesses who testified were the young men whom the accused had approached to commit the murder. They told the court how the accused was angry when they did not want to carry out his request and told them he would do it himself. Two of the eight state witnesses were the family members of the deceased who revealed that the accused as the traditional leader advised them not to wait for the police but instead to call a hearse.
Eastern Cape Director of Public Prosecutions, Barry Madolo, commended the young men who not only refused to commit the crime as instructed by the traditional leader but helped solve the case and became the state’s main witnesses. The NPA daily prosecutes hundreds of such matters that affect the safety and well-being of our communities and ensure justice for victims of crime, more especially the vulnerable elderly people who find themselves preyed upon by those who wield power, such as Inkosi Magodla.
