Nqobile Zulu (left) and Tshiamo Rabanye (right) went missing on Wednesday and their mutilated bodies were found in Soweto. Photo: Screenshot
The two murder accused in the case of two boys, Nqobizitha Zulu and Tshiamo Rabanye, whose bodies were found mutilated in a veld in Soweto in April last year, made their seventh court appearance in the Protea Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.
The accused, Nqobile Ndlovu, 50, and her lover, Mthunzi Zulu, 39, face two counts of murder related to the brutal killings of five-year-old Nqobizitha and six-year-old Tshiamo last year.
Following their brief appearance, the court ruled that the trial date be postponed to May 31 with their next court appearance set for the Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg.
Speaking after the postponement, Nomthandazo Zulu, mother of Nqobizitha, said they hope that justice will be served when the matter finally concludes in the high court.
“Today, we have learnt that the case has been moved to the high court starting on the 31st of May. I feel that the case is now moving in the right direction and that soon enough, justice will be served. At first we did not have hope, but now we feel there is some positive movement as the case is now being moved to the high court,” she said.
Police, acting on an investigation at the house of one of the boys, said a 50-year-old woman and her 39-year-old partner were the suspects behind what members of the community believe to be an act of muti-related killings.
Ndlovu who is Tshiamo’s grandmother and Zulu, who is not related to Nqobizitha, were arrested on April 25, last year, shortly after the murder of the two, following the gruesome discovery of their mutilated bodies some few kilometres from their homes.
The two were at the time said to be lovers. The murders sent shock-waves among residents of White City, Soweto, with many suspecting the murders to be muti-related.
Last year, The Star reported that the children were killed after they were allegedly kidnapped in White City, Jabavu, just before 8pm, with their mutilated bodies found following a frantic search by the community the next morning.
Nqobizitha’s father, Zolile Zondo, 47, told the ‘Sunday World’ publication that he was hopeful that the high court would do justice to the case.
“We are placing our hopes with the high court as the high court has no time to play. (It) will take this case seriously and finish it quickly. They (suspects) should just live in jail for the rest of their lives. Our children did nothing to them,” he said.