ANCYL leader Sindiso Magaqa's killer pleads with court for leniency

The man who confessed to killing the former secretary general of the ANC Youth League Sindiso Magaqa will know next Monday how long he will spend in prison for this crime. 

Sibusiso Ncengwa will not get a life sentence after the state agreed to a lesser sentence than that which is prescribed for the nature of this crime because he confessed from the day he was arrested in 2018 and disclosed the names of those who had contracted the hitmen. 

Magaqa was allegedly targeted for exposing corruption within the municipality.

Ncengwa's lawyer, Advocate Andrew Matlamela, told Judge Nontuthuzelo Mlaba at the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Monday that his client deserved a lesser sentence than life because he had already spent eight years in custody while awaiting trial. 

This was despite Ncengwa already serving 30 years in prison for unrelated crimes, which include attempted murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances. 

Matlamela said the court should be lenient towards Ncengwa as he participated in Magaqa's murder but he was not the gunman who fired the AK47. 

The actual killer was Jabulani Mdunge, who was later killed during a shootout with the police. 

“The accused not only pleaded guilty, but he fully disclosed who the instigators were,” said Matlamela. 

Both the state and the defense agree that Ncengwa should be transferred from New Prison in Pietermaritzburg to Durban’s Westville Prison for the sake of his safety, as he will be testifying on behalf of the NPA against the instigator of Magaqa’s murder. 

He also said his client, whose level of education ended at grade 10 in school, had a subnormal intelligence and was motivated by the need to generate income to support his family, including his four minor children. 

At the time he committed the crime, he generated money by selling food on the street. 

Matlamela said Ncengwa was so remorseful for his actions that he wanted to apologise to Magaqa's family for the role he played in the crime. 

“He attempted to get contact details for the survivors to apologise, but he didn't get the contact details."

During his confession, Ncengwa revealed the late former KwaZulu-Natal ANC treasurer Mluleki Ndobe, who was the mayor of the Mzimkhulu Municipality when Magaqa was killed, was one of the conspirators. 

The gunman opened fire at Magaqa’s car, injuring him and female councillors Jabulile Msiya and Nonsikelelo Mafa. 

Mafa and Msiya survived while Magaqa died later in hospital. 

Ndobe was initially arrested and charged with murder, but charges were later dropped. 

It was alleged that the conspiracy to kill Magaqa was put together to stop him up from spilling the beans on corruption surrounding the multi-million rand construction of a community hall in Mzimkhulu. 

Magaqa's murder left his family in dire financial distress. 

State Advocate Elvis Gcweka described the devastating effect that political killings have caused in KwaZulu-Natal over the years. 

Such killings became the subject of the Moerane Commission, which was established in 2016 - before Magaqa’s murder. 

“Some of the witnesses that have testified before this court repeated what was said in that commission that ‘something was rotten in the state of Denmark’. 

“That commission was clearly describing KwaZulu-Natal in respect of the political killings. 

“Even after the Moerane Commission had concluded, regrettably, there was no reduction in the rate of political killings,” said Gcweka. 

He said, like in most political killings, Magaqa’s murder was connected to the corrupt issuing of tenders. 

Gcweka was offered R20,000 and a tender for killing Magaqa. 

Although he told the conspirators that he did not know anything about tenders, they told him that it did not matter because they were going to run the tender for him and pay him the proceeds. 

Gcweka described this as a reason that the government is failing to deliver services and he described the province as rotten when it came to political killings.