Sex workers trial: Mkhwanazi exonerated on one charge but still faces six counts of rape

The Johannesburg high court, sitting in Palm Ridge, on Wednesday refused Sifiso Mkhwanazi’s application to have the bulk of the charges against him discharged.

He was only successful in having one count of rape dismissed, which was allegedly committed in June 2021.  

Judge Cassim Moosa ruled that after carefully considering the totality of the evidence before him and in the interest of justice, he was of the opinion that there was sufficient evidence against Mkhwanazi, who is accused of raping and killing sex workers operating in Johannesburg.

“I am of the view, having exercised my discretion, that there is sufficient evidence before this court upon which a reasonable court acting carefully may convict the accused of certain of the counts.  

“It is ordered that the accused is granted a discharge on count one, being the charge of rape in respect of the complainant. He is accordingly not found guilty,” he said.  

The charge relates to when Mkhwanazi, then aged 19, was arrested in June 2021 after a sex worker opened a rape case against him. This led to him spending 10 months in prison.

Mkhwanazi, however, is yet to answer to a string of other charges after, two years later, he was arrested following the discovery of sex workers’ decomposed bodies in his father’s car repair workshop.

It was alleged that he went on a killing spree after his release from prison, committing the rapes and murders in a six-month period from April to October 2022.  

As the trial unfolds, the state has alleged that he targeted Zimbabwean sex workers, since the woman who got him arrested was a Zimbabwean national.

Mkhwanazi’s lawyer Vuyo Maqetuka had applied for section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Act, asking the court to dismiss the rape charges and those of defeating or obstructing the administration of justice.  

Maqetuka argued that the rape cases couldn’t stand, as the state couldn’t prove the deceased women were raped, and that the sex was consensual.  

He further submitted that his client didn’t conceal the body that was found by the caretaker in one of the rooms at the workshop and that Mkhwanazi deliberately left the body in that room to be found. 

The state opposed the application, indicating that there was photographic and DNA evidence. State prosecutor Leswikane Mashabela told the court that if Mkhwanazi wanted the body to be found, he should have taken it to the main side of the workshop. 

“He was still planning how he would remove this body. Why not leave the body in the changing room [one of the rooms in the workshop], why choose that room [which was not used]? I submit that this application should be rejected,” said Mashabela.   

Mkhwanazi was arrested in October 2022 and charged with six counts of murder, seven of rape, defeating or obstructing the administration of justice, robbery with aggravating circumstances and unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition.  

He pleaded not guilty to charges of rape and murder, but made an admission in terms of the Criminal Procedure Act. 

He admitted to strangling the women, using an arm choke. He denied raping the women, alleging it was consensual sex which he paid for. He denied planning the murders and said he strangled the women because they reneged on their agreement on the payment for sex and demanded more money. 

The court has ordered the state and the defence to submit their heads of arguments by Monday. The matter was postponed to Wednesday February 28, for arguments and merits.

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