ZiMoja updates on the latest crime news in parts of the country.

FREE STATE: The executive mayor of Matjhabeng Local Municipality has been sentenced by the Odendaalsrus Magistrate’s Court for assaulting his driver and bodyguard. Thanduxolo Khalipa (58) was found guilty on three charges, including one count of assault and two counts of crimen injuria, following an incident where he attacked and insulted his driver and protector during a community meeting last year. The mayor is to serve three months in jail or pay a R5,000 fine for common assault, one month behind bars with an option of paying R1,000 for each charge of crimen injuria. He was also declared unfit to possess a firearm. According to NPA regional spokesperson Mojalefa Senokoatsane, on the day of the incident, the mayor was attending a community meeting when tensions escalated and community members became rowdy. This prompted his protectors to intervene and attempt to escort him from the scene. Senokoatsane said that in response, Khalipha assaulted his protectors and insulted them.

WESTERN CAPE: The Plettenberg Bay Regional Court has sentenced a man to 17 years direct imprisonment for assaulting his girlfriend after he found her naked in another man’s house. Lukhanyiso Educator Ndoya’s sentencing comes after he pleaded guilty to attempted murder of his girlfriend last year. According to the NPA, Ndoya (43) confessed to stabbing Lungiswa Dumiso (43) twice on the neck on 16 April 2023 . NPA spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said Ndoya told the court that he and Dumiso were in a relationship for about six years. On the day of the incident, he visited her at her house, but she was not at home. “He looked for her at another house where he had previously seen her, and she got out of bed as he entered the house. He asked her what she was doing at that house and told her to put her clothes on as she was naked. He asked her to walk with him and he was very angry with her as it was clear that she was unfaithful. He slapped and pulled her. She fell, and he again slapped and pulled her. She bit his finger, and he took out a knife and stabbed her twice on the neck,” Ntabazalila said. 

WESTERN CAPE: An Angolan man was arrested at the Cape Town International Airport on Wednesday after being found in possession of drugs. Police spokesperson Colonel Siyabulela Vukubi said the arrest came after the Hawks received information regarding a 30-year-old suspect who boarded a flight from Brazil via Dubai and was heading to Cape Town. The information was operationalised and the suspect was spotted. Upon searching his luggage, he was found with cocaine hidden inside three suitcases. The value of the cocaine brought is still to be determined by authorities. The suspect will make his first appearance in the Bellville Magistrate’s Court today.