Yibanathi Ndema, who made national headlines after killing his wife and cementing her body under their bath, has been sentenced to life imprisonment, plus 11 years on other charges.
The sentence was handed down by Mthatha high court judge Buyiswa Majiki on Wednesday, four years after the murder of Noluvuyo Nonkwelo-Ndema.
Ndema was sentenced to life in prison on the murder charge, as well as five years for defeating the ends of justice and two years for each of the three counts of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
The sentences for the three assault counts are each suspended for five years on condition Ndema does not recommit an offence involving violence.
The sentences will run concurrently.
Majiki also ruled that the couple’s daughters, aged 14 and nine, would remain in the custody of their grandparents in Mthatha and continue to receive counselling at the state’s expense.
Court A, the biggest courtroom, was almost full as people came to hear the sentencing of a man who shocked the country with how he killed his wife and reported her missing.
He misled the family, police and public for two years.
Ndema strangled his wife on June 30 2019 and buried her under the bath in their bathroom. Three days later he reported her missing.
In an affidavit in January 2019 she told police her husband had threatened to kill her.
The court heard Nonkwelo-Ndema, 34, had feared for her life. In an affidavit in January 2019 she told police her husband had threatened to kill her.
Her body was found on August 30 2021 in the couple’s home at Vulindlela village in Zingqayi, between Butterworth and Dutywa.
Ndema was arrested the same day.
Despite having confessed to the killing, he pleaded not guilty. But senior state advocate Sibusiso Nolutshungu successfully argued Ndema had intentionally killed his wife.
She was murdered hours after she told her husband she was quitting the abusive marriage.
On September 8, Majiki found Ndema guilty of premeditated murder, defeating the ends of justice and three counts of assault.
Ndema was first arrested for the assault cases on January 22 2019, and his wife obtained a protection order against him. But she withdrew both the order and the cases on March 26 that year.
Majiki agreed with Nolutshungu that gender-based violence in South Africa was alarming and said Nonkwelo-Ndema had died at the hands of someone who said he loved her.
“He had assaulted her many times before killing her,” Majiki said.
The court said had it not been for the couple’s now 14-year-old daughter, who noticed that since her mother’s disappearance the bath had been repositioned, and persistent pressure on the police and police minister Bheki Cele from the family, her body might never have been found.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Luxolo Tyali said the sentence was befitting of the crime and should serve as a deterrent to perpetrators of gender-based violence and femicide.
“It further reinforces the NPA’s commitment to ensuring that justice is served for victims of crime, particularly, in this case, the children, who were left traumatised by the murder of their mother by a person they dearly loved.
“Sentences of this nature send a strong message that our criminal justice system does not tolerate crimes against the vulnerable in our society.”
Nonkwelo-Ndema’s father, Mpendulo Nonkwelo, 63, welcomed the sentence.
“Though the family’s torturous two-year journey came to a horrifying conclusion when Noluvuyo’s remains were discovered, we are happy her killer will rot in jail,” he said.
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