- A Mtunzini High Court judge sentenced a serial rapist to seven life terms and an additional 155 years, describing the devastating and lasting harm suffered by his victims.
- The Madadeni Regional Court imposed two life sentences for the rape of two minor boys, with Victim Impact Statements detailing fear, trauma and broken trust.
- In Mpumalanga, a life sentence for premeditated murder reinforced the judiciary’s firm stance that there are no grounds to deviate from prescribed minimum sentences in brutal domestic killings.
Seven life sentences and an additional 155 years’ imprisonment. That was the stark outcome in the Mtunzini High Court as Muzikhona Khehla Khumbulani Mthethwa, 33, stood to be sentenced for a series of violent sexual offences committed in the KwaMbonambi area between 2017 and 2021.
Mthethwa pleaded guilty under Section 112 of the Criminal Procedure Act to nine counts of rape, five counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances, two counts of attempted murder, assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and housebreaking with intent to rape. One complainant was a minor. In one incident, he raped two women in the presence of each other.
In aggravation of sentence, the State placed Victim Impact Statements before the court reflecting what the complainants described as “profound and lasting trauma” and lives now overshadowed by fear. DNA evidence linked Mthethwa to the offences.
The court ordered that the additional prison terms run concurrently with the life sentences and declared him unfit to possess a firearm.
The National Prosecuting Authority confirmed that medical reports and DNA analysis were central to the conviction, while survivors were assisted through the Ngwelezane Thuthuzela Care Centre, where they received medico-legal and psycho-social support.
Two life terms for the rape of young boys
In a separate matter, the Madadeni Regional Court sentenced a 25-year-old man to two life terms for raping two boys aged 13 and nine in Osizweni in August 2024.
The court heard that the boys were playing outside a house when the accused called them into a garage that had been converted into a bedroom. He locked the door and raped them one at a time before letting them go.
The abuse was disclosed a week later when one complainant confided in his grandmother after a teacher noticed he appeared unwell at school. Both boys were examined and supported at the Madadeni Thuthuzela Care Centre.
Victim Impact Statements compiled for the court recorded that the boys were “fearful of the accused when the incident happened” and that they now experience “trust issues and fear of strangers” as a result of the trauma.
In addition to life imprisonment, the court declared the accused unfit to work with children, unfit to possess a firearm and ordered that his name be entered into the National Register for Sex Offenders.
No deviation from the minimum sentence in the femicide case
In Mpumalanga, the Emalahleni Regional Court sentenced Dingane Solomon Dlamini, 44, to life imprisonment for the premeditated murder of his partner, Mamokete Lucia Lechela, in Ogies.
According to NPA spokesperson Monica Nyuswa, the relationship was marked by escalating violence. “The tension reached a breaking point on the first of November,” Nyuswa said. “A visit from the deceased’s brother-in-law briefly interrupted a heated argument between the pair.”
When Lechela fled the house screaming for help, Dlamini chased her with a knife and stabbed her in the neck. She later died from her injuries. Dlamini pleaded not guilty and claimed the fatal wound resulted from an accidental encounter with a broken bottle. The State rejected that version through forensic and eyewitness evidence.
In delivering the sentence, the court was unequivocal. “There are no substantial and compelling circumstances to deviate from the prescribed minimum sentence,” the presiding judicial officer said, rejecting Dlamini’s account as false.
Welcoming the outcomes, the National Prosecuting Authority said the life sentences send a clear message that perpetrators of sexual violence and domestic murder will face the full weight of the law. Nyuswa added that by securing a life term, the authority hopes to show that “the legal system will hold perpetrators of domestic violence to the highest degree of accountability.”
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