Motswana gets 12 years for killing Zim lover

By Thupeyo Muleya

A 39-year-old Motswana man has been jailed for an effective 12 years in South Africa for killing his Zimbabwean girlfriend whom he accused of terminating the pregnancy of their unborn baby without his consent.

Joseph Mafifi of Moletemane area in Botswana is accused of committing the murder in Lephalale area in Limpopo Province last year.

Limpopo police spokesperson Colonel Moatshe Ngoepe said the man was convicted on one count of murder when he appeared at the Polokwane High Court on Monday morning.

He identified the Zimbabwean woman as Simangele Sibanda, who died due to multiple stab wounds at the hands of Mafifi.

“On the 18th March 2018 at about 2am, police at Tom Burke outside Lephalale, received a report of a woman had been stabbed at one of the local farms in Swart water.

“They then rushed to the area, where upon arrival they found the lifeless body of a 44-year-old woman with multiple stab wounds throughout the body.

“The deceased was identified as Simangele Sibanda from Zimbabwe,” said Col Ngoepe.

He said Mafifi soon after committing the crime left Sibanda’s lifeless body lying in a pool of blood and fled to his native country.

Col Ngoepe said the accused was then tracked to Botswana by police detectives where he was arrested and extradited to face trial for murder in South Africa.

He said the accused revealed during trial that he killed his girlfriend for aborting the pregnancy of their baby without his consent.

“In a related incident, a 50-year-old man from Thohoyandou was given two life imprisonment sentences by the High Court in Thohoyandou for raping his two biological daughters.

“This man is accused of raping his two daughters aged 13 and 16 at a village outside Thohoyandou, for a period of three years between 2014 and 2016.

“He would commit the offence in the absence of their mother and other family members,” said Col Ngoepe.

He continued; “The accused would sneak into the room the girls were sharing around midnight and violated them.

“The ordeal resulted into the youngest falling pregnant and that’s when the matter was eventually reported to the police, a case of rape was opened and subsequently, the accused was arrested.”

Limpopo’s Provincial Police Commissioner, Lieutenant General Nneke Ledwaba commended the investigators for conducting themselves professionally in bringing the two criminals to book.

“Violent men of this nature should not be allowed in our society and as police we will ensure that each and every one involved in crimes against women and children, is sent to prison indefinitely,” he said. H-Metro