While most South Africans would like to see high-profile, politically exposed persons in court, each day a parade of ordinary criminals is held to account for horrendous, violent crimes.
If you are looking for the ultimate reality “crime series” to binge on, it is to be found on the national media group of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), where justice is served daily.
This grind, however, flies mostly unseen beneath palace politics and economic crime when it comes to hogging media headlines.
Although femicide – the murder of women – and the abuse and murder of children remain among the country’s most pressing social issues, the perpetrators, when they are arrested and charged, are facing severe penalties.
The National Council on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide Act was gazetted in May, providing for the formation of a council to address institutional issues related to the scourge. This will be an additional weapon in the range of laws designed to curb these crimes, which mostly occur in domestic spaces.
The acceptance of the concept of “femicide” – the deliberate targeting of women based on their sex and gender identity – is a victory in itself, highlighting the power imbalance in society and how men exercise control over women’s bodies.
Dangerous adults
In the past week, life sentences were handed down to a police officer who murdered his estranged wife and her boyfriend, a 35-year-old man who raped a 12-year-old girl, a 33-year-old uncle who raped his nine-year-old niece, and a 42-year-old man who disguised himself as a pastor and kidnapped and raped a woman.
A serial rapist who preyed on women students at the University of Venda was also sentenced to life.
In the KwaZulu-Natal High Court, a woman and a pastor from Nkandla were sent to prison for life for murdering two children, aged nine and 10, during a supposed “exorcism”. A third woman got sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment.
The adults, one of them the 10-year-old’s mother, had believed the children were “possessed” and that they had been “sucking the blood” out of a relative.
The horror of the children’s ordeal was set out in detail for the court.
“On 24 March 2020, the women invited the third accused to come over to their home and pray for the two children to drive out the demonic spirits. During the prayers, the children were assaulted with plastic pipes and a sjambok. They were also punched and burned with a two-plate stove.
“The assaults on the two children caused the immediate death of the nine-year-old child. Thereafter, an anonymous tip-off alerted police to what was happening, and police arrived at the scene. The accused were arrested and the 10-year-old child, who was still alive, was taken to hospital. She died two weeks later.”
The court said it hoped the sentence would send a clear message.
In a case in North West, Daniel Mathuse (33) raped a nine-year-old child in July 2020. After failing to lure her away from where she was playing with her brother, he took her by force and later raped her at a nearby dam in Ikageng, Potchefstroom.
Mathuse, her uncle, denied the charges until DNA evidence placed him at the scene.
Devil in the detail
In these cases, the devil is indeed in the detail, which often makes for shocking reading. That does not mean we must turn away from the gruesome details.
In October 2015, children were playing on a soccer field in Langaville, Tsakane, in Gauteng. A resident, Vusi Khoza (35), accused them of stealing his “soccer poles” and chased them.
“While running, the victim fell and Khoza managed to apprehend her. The child apologised for the stolen poles. However, Khoza did not let go.
“He then dragged her to the bushes next to the veld where he undressed and raped her.”
Khoza had shown no remorse, the court found, and added that it hoped the sentence would “send a message to society” that “the NPA takes the crime of sexual offences seriously”.
Read more: Boost for Cape Town crime-fighting – three-way cooperation agreement to be signed on Friday
Read more: Police and business turn the screws on extortion mafia terrorising all corners of SA
In March 2023, policeman Annius Mmutle (50) followed his estranged wife and her boyfriend to the house of a friend they were visiting. Mmutle walked in and pumped 12 bullets into his wife, Motshegwa Mmutle, and Katlego Selokwane, her boyfriend, killing them instantly. The friend managed to escape.
The Zeerust regional court in North West sentenced the killer to double life imprisonment this week.
He was previously a detective warrant officer stationed at Nietverdiend.
A 40-year-old man, Victor Madia, will hopefully spend the rest of his life in jail for multiple rapes at the University of Venda campus. Evidence was that, in 2018, Madia threatened victims with “dangerous weapons” and raped them in bushes near the campus.
Deadly quackery
A dentist in Westville, Durban, who established an unregistered drug rehabilitation centre at which a Canadian-French citizen died during “treatment”, was convicted of culpable homicide this week.
Anwar Mohamed Jeewa (64), registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa as a dentist, had advertised himself on his website, “The Minds Alive Wellness Centre”, as an expert on ibogaine therapy.
The court heard that Jeewa had claimed he was a specialist with extensive knowledge of ibogaine therapy for drug addiction. He had attended several conferences “where he was advised and himself advised others that ibogaine should not be used to treat an addiction to benzodiazepines”.
The dentist had imported dry plant material to manufacture his own preparations containing ibogaine, without a licence to do so.
Read more: Cyril Ramaphosa – SA is proving we can beat crime if we all work together
Canadian-French citizen Milos Martinovic was addicted to OxyContin and Xanax. Learning of Jeewa through his website, he travelled to South Africa.
He arrived with “an unknown number of OxyContin tablets and 16 boxes of Xanax”, which Jeewa allowed him to keep, advising that he continue taking the drugs to avoid the withdrawal symptoms.
“Jeewa effectively directed Martinovic to self-medicate with no supervision.”
The administration of Jeewa’s concoction later led to Martinovic going into cardiac arrest.
There is comfort in the knowledge that, although crime still tears this country apart, justice continues to grind each day. DM
This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.
