Racist guesthouse owner who killed unarmed burglar is not sorry

Guesthouse owner Andre Slade locked eyes with an unarmed burglar he had shot in the head moments earlier.

As the man gasped for air, Slade was confident that he had rid the world of a "problem".

The Sunday Times can exclusively reveal that apart from the Equality Court charges Slade faces for a racist rant last year, he is being investigated for the murder of 26-year-old Siyabonga Nsele, his neighbour in Mbazwana, northern KwaZulu-Natal, in March.

Last year, Slade, 54, sent an e-mail saying black people and government officials were not allowed to stay at his Sodwana Bay guesthouse. It went viral and will put Slade before an Equality Court in two weeks' time, charged with hate speech.

This week Slade claimed that Nsele had been running away, clutching a bag of stolen groceries. He fired a shot that hit Nsele behind the ear. Nsele died soon afterwards in a nearby clinic.

"He fell like a bag of potatoes. The bullet severed his spinal cord," Slade said, giving a macabre demonstration of how Nsele crumpled.

"His eyes could see me because he was still alive. His brain was still operating, but he couldn't blink his eyes because he'd lost muscle control.

"He was grovelling ... clearing his throat while totally paralysed."

He said the killing could be justified by the Bible.

"We are not the kind of people who have a lot of remorse because the Bible says to us ... if he comes into your house at night you may kill him, no matter if he is white or black."

Slade said that while Nsele was running away, he'd seen him carrying something in his hand, which he later discovered was a pair of pliers.

"He was here illegally. He had a bottle of wine which we had in the fridge. In the other hand he had a bag with cheese and eggs which he had packed.

"It was necessary to get rid of the problem and I don't feel sorry for that."

Slade claimed that after the shooting, he had been congratulated by two police officers at the scene.

"I haven't been charged for anything. What the police are doing is intrinsic; this has already been thrown out. The judge admonished the police for inconveniencing me. The police don't know their asses from their elbows," he said.

Nsele's parents, Sibusiso Nsele and Smangele Ndlovu, are disheartened by the lack of justice over their son's death and say Slade has been unaffected by the shooting.

"The police said that Andre did the right thing for shooting my boy," father Sibusiso said.

"I see him passing in the road, but he has never come to say sorry for what he's done. I thought he would at least do that. The way I see it, this man just doesn't care. It is as if Andre can do whatever he likes to other people."

Ndlovu said the pain of losing her son was overwhelming.

"To him my son was like a baboon taking food from the fridge. He says that black people are monkeys, so maybe he thought my son was a baboon."

She did not deny her son's brushes with the law, but said he had changed.

Police spokeswoman Captain Nqobile Gwala said the investigation into Nsele's death was continuing.

She did not say why it was still incomplete.

"Investigations are still continuing on the murder case. Once the investigation is completed the docket will be taken to court for a decision," she said.