'My brother was killed like a dog'

The case against Zwidofhelangani Doreen Manwadu and her three co-accused took a dramatic turn when the court heard that Legal Aid lawyers are not keen to represent one of the accused, Ndalamo Nemakhavhani.

A Legal Aid lawyer, candidate attorney Makuya, told the court that Legal Aid lawyers who had initially agreed to represent Nemakhavhani had opted rather to withdraw from the case. She also told the court that a lawyer who had represented another accused, Pfunzo Ledzebe, during his bail application last week, advocate Lidovho, had not pitched up when they had appeared in court on Tuesday (11^th).

Manwadu, who has her own lawyer, is accused of hiring Tshianeo Munyai, Ndalamo Nemakhavhani and Pfunzo Lidzebe to kill her husband, the late advocate James Manwadu, at their house at Maniini village on 12 November 2022.

Manwadu, who is accused number four in the case, appeared with Pfunzo Lidzebe (accused number two) and Ndalamo Nemakhavhani (accused number three), before magistrate Shirley Nemutandani.

Accused number one, Tshianeo Munyai, was not in court, and the court was told that he had to appear in another court as he had pending criminal cases in Giyani, Namakgale and Makhado.

Zwidofhelangani Doreen Manwadu was arrested after investigators had found a paper trail, including bank statements that reflected payments amounting to R100 000 that were allegedly made by her to accounts of the arrested hitmen.

From the bits of information that became available about the case, the allegation is that investigators had also found phone records showing that she had constantly been in close contact with the hitmen shortly before her husband was killed.

On Tuesday, the late advocate James Manwadu’s elder sister, Ms Thinavhudzulo Manwadu, was spitting fire outside the Thohoyandou Magistrate's Court. “As the family, we do not know what my brother did to Zwidofhelangani that prompted her to [allegedly] kill him. My brother married her in 2002 and she came here with nothing, other than a Grade 12 certificate. She was not even working and became a housewife. He immediately taught her how to drive and bought her a new Ford Figo sedan. He loved her very much, without knowing that he was feeding a snake that would [allegedly] kill him one day,” she fumed.

“We are very devastated as a family. Doreen doesn’t even know the prize of a school uniform as my brother was doing everything for his children. Perhaps the justice system will help us in finding out why did she [allegedly] kill my brother. What did he do to deserve that? My brother was allegedly shot and died like a dog,” she added.

When asked what she reckoned an appropriate sentence for her brother’s killers would be, Thinavhudzulo said a life sentence without parole would be the right sentence.

The case was postponed to 21 June 2023 for further police investigations.

Date:13 April 2023

By: Victor Mukwevho

Victor Mukwevho Ne-vumbani joined the Mirror during it's inception in 1990. He joined the SABC newsroom in 1995, and was known by  listeners as "A u fhedzisela ari". He was a news editor for The Tembisan Newspaper from 2007 to 2015. He rejoined the Limpopo Mirror newspaper in June 2022 as a freelance journalist.

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