The state secured three convictions for a brutal farm attack in Normandien, KwaZulu-Natal, despite a key witness being shot dead a day after declining witness protection.
Glen Rafferty, 63, and Vida Rafferty, 60, were murdered in August 2020 at the gate of their farm after returning from a visit with friends. Their dog was also shot dead. The assailants had stolen several items from the house but could not open the safe, so they waited for the couple to come home.
The latest quarterly police stats released this week show there were more than 7,000 murders committed in South Africa between July and September this year, a 13.6% increase on the previous period.
The police precinct of the picturesque town of Normandien, which lies near the Chelmsford Nature Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal, saw only 126 crimes in total in 2022.
But these stats belie the trauma and brutality caused by the murder of the couple, whose son found their bodies and eventually sold the farm because it was too traumatising for him to go back there.
The subsequent trial of the murderers ended in another killing after one of the accused became a state witness but was gunned down before he could take the stand to testify against his accomplices.
Lt-Col Nqobile Gwala told TimesLIVE that Normandien police were called to the murder scene on August 30 2020, “where the couple was shot and killed by the same people who killed the family dog before fleeing in the victims’ vehicle”.
“The investigation led to the arrest of four men. Sizwe Tell Zwane, 29, pleaded guilty during March 2022 and he was sentenced to 60 years' imprisonment.”
A source familiar with the police investigation said: “The investigators and the prosecutor decided to offer one of the accused, Siyabonga Macu, the opportunity to turn state witness. He accepted and the charges against him were withdrawn — on October 31 — and he was released.”
Accused number one, Doctor Ngwenya, started to testify in the Madadeni high court, near Newcastle, a week later.
“That Wednesday he suddenly started asking for postponements for a variety of reasons ...”
The case was postponed to the next morning but Ngwenya again asked for a postponement “to take counsel from his legal team”.
According to the police source, investigators “started smelling a rat”.
“They were worried that Ngwenya was playing for time so the state witness could be taken out. The investigators had a meeting with the prosecutor and with his blessing offered to put Macu in witness protection but he declined the offer.”
A police investigator made one last attempt.
“Macu said he would sleep in another location that evening and would be in court the next morning,” the police source said.
“The next morning he returned to his sister’s place but he made a crucial mistake, the first of two that eventually cost him his life. He returned in the same vehicle he had been driving the previous day — a Toyota bakkie.
“At his sister’s home, Macu took a Bluetooth music player with him into the bedroom where he washed up to get ready for court. The music player was his second mistake. He never heard the two murderers enter the house.”
As the two men entered the bedroom, Macu turned around.
“He was shot three times — in his neck, head and back — and died on the scene,” the police source said.
Gwala on Monday said the remaining two accused — Doctor Ngwenya, 20, and Sibongiseni Masondo, 33 — were earlier this month each sentenced to life plus and 21 years’ imprisonment.
No arrests have been made in connection with Macu's killing.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Natasha Ramkisson confirmed Macu's murder: “We can confirm that protection was offered to Macu, but he declined. The state was informed the next day that he had been killed.”
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