Sindiso Magaqa’s sick mother urges NPA to fast-track his murder trial before she dies
Durban — The ailing mother of murdered ANC Youth League secretary-general Sindiso Magaqa has called on the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in KwaZulu-Natal to expedite her son’s murder trial.
Speaking to the Daily News from her Umzimkhulu home, on Tuesday, Agnes Khethiwe Magaqa, 60, wanted to see justice being served before she dies.
Magaqa made an impassioned plea to the state to curb continuous postponements. Magaqa wants closure.
“I was hoping my son’s killers would have been convicted and sentenced which would have made it easier for me to let go of the case. It disturbs me a lot that every time I have to be reminded of my son’s death when family members go to Pietermaritzburg to attend the trial only to find that it has been postponed. My plea to the state is to fast-track the trial and complete it before I join my son in eternal life, that’s my wish,” said Magaqa.
Magaqa, who was Umzimkhulu Local Municipality councillor at the time of his death, was shot while parking his Mercedes-Benz at his home in Umzimkhulu after attending a meeting in July 2017. He was with two women councillors who were injured during the shooting. Magaqa died in hospital in September 2017
Further to the plea, she said she was hoping the suspects will reveal their masters before being sentenced, adding it will be difficult for her and the family to gain total closure knowing the people who plotted his death were still around.
The case sat in Pietermaritzburg on Monday and again was postponed to next month. The family said accused number three said he was not fit for trial. Besides being worried by postponements, the mother said her son’s three kids were struggling financially since the collapse of the foundation that was established to support them with education fees and other needs. She said the foundation had promised to repair Magaqa’s Mercedes Benz which was left riddled with bullet holes during the attack and finish his house he had started in the town of Umzimkhulu.
Last year the family called for the establishment of a special political killings court to fast-track Magaqa’s trial and other political killing cases.
Police arrested former police officer Sibonelo Myeza, businessman Mbulelo Mpofana, Mlungisi Ncalane, and Sibusiso Ncengwa in September 2018, exactly a year after Magaqa’s killing. Their bail application in May 2019 was unsuccessful but they were finally granted bail in February last year.
The trial has seen several postponements since they were arrested six years ago. The establishment of a special court was also mooted by the National Prosecuting Authority at a media briefing last year but to date nothing has materialised.
Magaqa’s killing shook the whole country. Top ANC members and late former Harry Gwala District Municipal mayor Mluleki Ndobe and Umzimkhulu Local Municipality manager Zweliphansi Skosana were arrested but later acquitted. Magaqa was vocal about alleged corruption in Umzimkhulu Local Municipality during his tenure as a councillor.
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