Joburg sex worker killer 'reserved and shy, and addicted to sex at young age'

“A reserved and shy person” who sometimes would engage in sexual intercourse with two individuals. 

This is how the killer of six sex workers, Sifiso Mkhwanazi, described himself to the probation officer who prepared his pre-sentencing report.

He appeared at the Johannesburg High Court sitting in Palm Ridge on Wednesday.

Mkhwanazi never had a girlfriend nor attempted to have one. The court heard about his personal behaviour, relationship and educational background. 

The probation officer, Xoliswa Budaza, narrated to the court information she gathered from Mkhwanazi, his father, Mike Khumalo and his sister Samantha (not her real name).

Detailing his interpersonal relationships and sexual development, Budaza told the court that Mkhwanazi had always been a shy person and was scared of pursuing girls. He believed his character contributed to what happened as he had never been comfortable talking to people face to face but tried over the phone. At the age of 15, he noticed sex workers near his father's workshop and developed an interest in them.

His first sexual encounter was with a sex worker whom he paid with pocket money. He told the probation officer he believed the woman to whom he lost his virginity was in her mid-twenties. 

Mkhwanazi was never sexually abused.

He managed to conceal his sexual encounters with sex workers from his father and his employees by going to the park.

“The father reported that he learnt on the day of his arrest that the Mkhwanazi frequently requested the services of sex workers. Initially, he would request these services once a week, but with time it increased.  

“During the Covid-19 pandemic, he stopped using sex workers but when regulations were relaxed, he continued requesting those services,” reads the report.

According to Mkhwanazi, sex workers are like any other ordinary people who are working to provide for their families. 

At the time of his arrest for murder, he would use sex workers at least four times a week, and that meant at least six different workers as some days he could engage in sexual intercourse with two individuals.

He usually paid R50 "per round" and would usually last for two rounds. He normally used protection but sometimes did not, depending on the circumstances of their meeting, especially when they were in the bush. 

“When probed on his desire to return to sex workers and what he believed maintained this habit, he explained that he believes that he developed an addiction to sex workers and none of his family members suspected,” read the court papers. 

When interacting with sex workers, he would converse with them, and they would ask him about his love for sex workers, considering that he was too young. 

Sex workers would encourage him to discontinue as he would get addicted and that he should consider his health, considering that at times he would not use protection. 

Mkhwanazi defined “rape” as an act of forcing another to engage in sexual intercourse with you. However, he has never been forced nor has he forced anyone to, including his victims. 

“When probed on his frequency of the need to have sex, he explained that, at times, it would just cross his mind to have sex. He would respond by getting a sex worker. He further understood sex to be fulfilling the need for pleasure,” read the papers. 

Mkhwanazi spent his early developmental years under the care of his unemployed mother, who relied on selling knitted hats and mats in town.

In 2017, his mother died in front of him while she was being ushered into an ambulance after collapsing. 

He told the probation officer that his mother's death was painful to him, and after the death, he was confused. At this time, he moved in with his sister, who was living in student accommodation. 

That lasted two months until his father took him in, in December 2017, and he lived with his stepmother, two sisters, a paternal aunt and her two children.

His father would not spend time with him but would give him money.

In 2018, he enrolled at Soshanguve Islamic Institute (boarding school) and attended until 2019.

According to his father, Mkhwanazi’s mother would complain that he was troublesome at school, so he decided to attend an Islamic school. The father told the probation officer that when he started living with him, he never presented with behavioural problems.

“He has always been a person who kept to himself and did not have friends, which did not surprise the father as he only spoke when addressed. He was friendly with the mechanics; however, he did not have a social life. He took instructions and requests without contest. His life was centred on work and being around his father.”

His sister described him as someone who is more in touch with his feelings than she is. “He is the type of person to analyse his experiences and things that he is exposed to. She was shocked by the offences as she still struggles to link them to the accused.

“However, she believes that their father’s character had an influence on his personality. She explained that growing up, their father would expose them to other women apart from his wives. However, the accused [Mkhwanazi] experienced that more as he lived with him.”

Mkhwanazi lured six sex workers to a panelbeating workshop in central Johannesburg where he tied them up, raped them and strangled them. 

In March, judge Cassim Moosa found him guilty of six counts of murder, six of rape, six of defeating the administration of justice, one of possession of ammunition and one of unlawful possession of a firearm.

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