It seems a grandmother accused of murdering two Soweto children only wants to plead guilty to the crimes but not reveal her motive. She has even succeeded in requesting the recusal of the judge presiding over the matter for “digging too much” while apparently only revealing the children's screams haunt her, but saying nothing more.
Nqobile Ndlovu and her boyfriend, Mthunzi Musawenkosi Zulu, returned to the Johannesburg high court on Wednesday for what was meant to be a pretrial hearing.
This was after the matter was postponed by judge Gcina Malindi after he raised concerns about her plea submission.
Malindi raised several concerns with Ndlovu's “vague” submission during a hearing meant for the finalisation of a plea and sentence agreement in terms of section 105A of the Criminal Procedure Act.
He questioned her motivation, the circumstances under which her three children died, as well as what happened to the alleged insurance taken out on one of the children.
Ndlovu and Zulu have been charged with two counts of murder following the deaths of her grandson Tshiamo Rabanye, and her neighbour's child Mduduzi Zulu, whose mutilated bodies were found just kilometres away from each other in Soweto last year. They are yet to plead.
The matter resumed in the Johannesburg high court after about an hour's delay and was promptly moved to another court where it will be heard by another judge.
The accused requested Malindi's recusal from the matter as “they are not happy with him” and accused him of “digging [for] too much information” instead of just accepting the plea.
Malindi acceded to this request and transferred it to another court for pretrial with a new judge.
Ndlovu's relatives, however, were not impressed by this, lamenting her delaying tactics and expressing frustration about her apparent refusal to come clean. Relative Bella Hlatshwayo spoke about the family's shock and pain more than a year after the children's brutal murders.
“We're still shocked and disgusted by what she did after all this time. We never imagined she'd do something like this — we were surprised by her lack of emotion after the children died, but we thought nothing of it,” Hlatshwayo said.
She's evil, truly evil. Her older sister is not coping at all, she even refuses to come to court or see Ndlovu.
— Bella Hlatshwayo
“We were just shocked when the police showed up at the memorial service to arrest her. They first went to her house but didn't find her.”
Hlatshwayo raised the same issue that Malindi had flagged — the circumstances surrounding the deaths of Ndlovu's three children.
According to several family members TimesLIVE Premium spoke to, the children died a year apart and around the same time.
Her family dismissed claims that she may have done it for the money, saying that she had a well-paying job and was always well dressed.
Hlatshwayo claimed Ndlovu had admitted to slaughtering the children but refused to provide more details.
“She doesn't want to explain where and who assisted her, just as she refused with the judge. Now, the judge has transferred the matter to his colleague, but she still won't open up.
“She's evil, truly evil. Her older sister is not coping at all, and she even refuses to come to court or see Ndlovu,” Hlatshwayo said.
The family says Ndlovu's sister had only visited her once since her incarceration, at the former's request, and the only revelation she made was that the two children's screams haunted her.
“She said she can't sleep due to the children's constant screams ringing in her head.”
Hlatshwayo says the family struggled to forgive Ndlovu due to her refusal to reveal her motive for the murders.
The matter was postponed to next week.
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