Tandiswa Tokwe, who says Nokwazi Ngonyama struck her several times with a broomstick in July 2023 in the SA ambassadorial residence in Tokyo. (Photo: Supplied) The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has decided to resume its prosecution of Nokwazi Ngonyama, three years after she allegedly assaulted her domestic worker in the official South African ambassadorial residence in Tokyo.
The National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP), Andy Mothibi, announced on Wednesday that he had instructed the Eastern Cape Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Samkelo Mtwana, to proceed in the Mdantsane Magistrates’ Court with the case of assault with intent to commit grievous bodily harm.
Nokwazi Ngonyama’s husband, Smuts Ngonyama, was SA’s ambassador to Japan when the couple’s South African domestic worker, Tandiswa Tokwe, alleged that Nokwazi Ngonyama had beaten her several times with a broomstick on 14 July 2023.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/0000084990.jpg "South Africa's former ambassador to Japan, Smuts Ngonyama. (Photo: Loanna Hoffmann / Gallo Images)")
Tokwe fled the residence and Japan in fear, returning to SA where she laid charges against Nokwazi Ngonyama in October 2023. But the NPA struggled to get the case off the ground. At a press conference in East London on 29 October 2025, Tokwe said the NPA had told her it had tried several times in 2024 to serve a court summons on Ngonyama, which she had refused to accept.
At one point, the NPA considered asking for a warrant of arrest to be issued against Ngonyama. Tokwe said Ngonyama then avoided appearing in court several times by pleading illness. She eventually appeared in court on 31 January 2025.
Ngonyama’s lawyers then argued that the Mdantsane Magistrates’ Court had no jurisdiction over the case because the alleged assault had happened in Tokyo.
/file/attachments/orphans/smuts-ngonyama-ambassador-Japan-wife-domestic-assault-_230850.jpg "Smuts Ngonyama and his wife, Nokwazi. (Photo: Flickr)")
In August 2025, after an apparent communication failure between the NDPP and the Eastern Cape DPP over this question of jurisdiction, the Mdantsane magistrate threw out the case.
After protests from Tokwe’s lawyers, the NPA reinstated the case in October 2025. But it made no progress and seemed to have lapsed until Mothibi announced this week that he had instructed the DPP to prosecute Ngonyama.
On Wednesday, Tokwe’s lawyer, Pumelele Hole, said: “It has been a long and debilitating wait for justice. Hopefully, Miss Tokwe and her children will receive justice after the incident, which changed their lives for the worse. If there was a time to prove that we are equal before the law, it is now.” DM