The High Court of South Africa Eastern Cape Division sitting in Mthatha sentenced Yibanathi MacGyver Ndema (45) to life imprisonment for the murder of his wife whose remains were found buried under a bathtub in their marital home. The incident, which shocked the communit,y happened at Zingqayi area in the district of Butterworth in 2019.
Eastern Cape National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Luxolo Tyali said that the court further sentenced Ndema to five years on a charge of acting with intent to defeat the course of justice. "He was sentenced to two years on each of the three counts of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, suspended for five years. The court declared him unfit to possess a firearm. Delivering the sentence, Judge Buyiswa Majiki directed the children of the couple to continue receiving trauma counselling as they were left traumatised by the murder of their mother by their father, whom they used to trust and love. Judge Majiki revealed that Ndema continues to contact his children telephonically, while in custody. She agreed with the prosecution that the prevalence of crimes of this nature in the whole country calls for expressly punitive sentences."
Ndema, murdered his wife Noluvuyo Nonkwelo (36), on 01 July 2019. Tyali said that, "On 03 July 2019, Ndema reported his wife as a missing person to the police, even though he knew that was not true. The marriage had been marred by domestic abuse, with the court convicting Ndema on the 18 September 2018, 22 January and 27 June 2019 for assaulting his wife. The assaults were by a stick, clenched fists, open hands, burning her with hot water and pulling her with her hair. While still alive, the deceased once opened a case of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm against him and was granted a protection order in January 2019. But both the case and the protection order were later withdrawn."
Tyali said that Ndema was arrested in August 2021 after Nonkwelo's remains were found buried underneath a bathtub in the bathroom of the house the couple shared. The couple's children alerted their grandparents that since their mother's disappearance, the bathtub had been repositioned. That prompted the police to search Ndema's home leading to the discovery of the remains. DNA results confirmed that the remains were indeed those of Nonkwelo and were released to her family for proper burial and postmortem results revealed that the deceased died because of a fractured neck. Ndema initially abandoned bail but made a u-turn at a later stage and applied for bail, which was successfully opposed by the prosecution. "During the trial, he pleaded not guilty. He also distanced himself from a confession he made to the police admitting that he had strangled his wife to death because she was having an extramarital affair, necessitating a trial-within-a-trial. The court ultimately admitted the confession, together with the disputed pointing-outs. After securing the conviction of Ndema, Senior State Advocate Sibusiso Nolutshungu prayed for the court to impose a life sentence and the court agreed," Tyali said.
