It was a gold watch purchased in Switzerland and the smell of expensive perfume wafting from a bag stashed in the ceiling of a shack in Khayelitsha that convinced a police detective he had identified former SA first lady Marike de Klerk’s killer.
That was more than 20 years ago. This week former security guard Luyanda Mboniswa, 43, will be released on parole from St Albans prison, in Gqeberha.
Western Cape high court judge president John Hlophe sentenced the then 22-year-old to life in prison in May 2003. Mboniswa was convicted of killing De Klerk in her Dolphin Beach apartment, in Cape Town, on December 2 2001. He stole her cellphone, wristwatch and a torch.
“There was a very unique moment in the Marike de Klerk case,” now retired Lt Mike Barkhuizen recalled when asked about solving the case.
The watch was handed to court as evidence during Mboniswa’s trial.
“On January 7 2002, Barkhuizen met the former state president, Mr FW de Klerk, at the deceased’s apartment. He asked Mr De Klerk to view some of the items that had been found during the investigation. Mr De Klerk identified the gold wristwatch as one he had bought for the deceased in Zurich in 1990,” Hlophe said in his judgment.
“Mr De Klerk also identified the two torches which he said the deceased had used when they were still married.”
Barkhuizen said he employed various techniques to catch Mboniswa, including analysing cellphone records. But finding De Klerk’s watch hidden in a shack stood out for him.
“We arrested Luyanda’s [then] girlfriend, and she admitted that he had given her some stuff to go and hide away,” he said.
“We went to a shack and in the ceiling, she took out a packet and there was a wristwatch inside. I only realised later how expensive it was. It had a French or Swiss name. It was Marike de Klerk’s wristwatch. The moment it came out of the packet, I could smell what I can only describe as an expensive perfume and it was Marike de Klerk’s perfume. It was not your ordinary perfume ... I still remember that smell, which was very unique those days.”
The department of correctional services (DSC) said Mboniswa will be placed on parole on August 30.
“Mboniswa, who will be admitted into the system of community corrections, will be expected to comply with a specific set of parole conditions for the rest of his natural life. He will be assigned a monitoring official for supervision. Normal parole conditions will apply, such as being restricted to his magisterial district,” the statement reads.
“He is also not allowed to have contact with the family of the victim and shall not change his residential address without informing the monitoring official.
“Parole placement forms part of the total rehabilitation programme to correct the offending behaviour and may include continuation of programmes in the system of community corrections.”
The late FW de Klerk’s son, Jan de Klerk, declined to comment, other than to say: “If you believe it is in the country’s interest to give him airtime, feel free.”
Attorney Bond Nyoka, who represented Mboniswa in two unsuccessful bail applications, said his former client was rehabilitated. He said he re-established contact with Mboniswa in 2018.
“He is from Gqeberha. His family is here, that’s why they moved him to St Albans,” said Nyoka.
“He is rehabilitated. He is going to contribute to the community. There are programmes that he participated in. He acquired computer literacy skills. He was only 21-years-old when he was incarcerated. He is now 43-years-old.”
In an essay written after attending a “tolerance” workshop run by an NGO assisting inmates in 2008, Mboniswa said people discriminated due to lack of tolerance.
“I grew up regarding an individual which [sic] did not have the colour of my skin as one not to be trusted,” he said.
“Experience is a hard teacher — she gives the test first and the lesson afterwards. This experience has helped me a lot because now I can relate to and guide with understanding of where I come from and where I am heading to in my journey. Life is a journey.”
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