How the family of slain MUT lecturer Chanlall Dwarika seeks closure after justice is served

IOL News

24-05-2025

Slain engineering lecturer Chanlall Dwarika.
Image: Supplied
The family of slain Mangosuthu University of Technology (MUT) lecturer said they would carry the grief of his brutal murder for the rest of their lives. This is after the Durban High Court sentenced his killers to life imprisonment.
Engineering lecturer, Chanlall Dwarika, 61, was kidnapped on May 28, 2023, and his body was found in the bushes of Durban's infamous township, Inanda, on June 3, 2023.
On the day he was kidnapped, he had come to his investment property in Sea Cow Lake to conduct maintenance as the property was being renovated.
His killers, Thobani Mhlongo and Kwanele Makhaye, with whom he provided food, lived on this property.
The agreement was that they would look after the material for renovations, as it kept being stolen. The killers' co-accused, Siyabonga Freeman Mahaye, also lived on the property.
On the day of the kidnapping, CCTV footage from the area showed Dwarika speaking to three men, who then forced him into the rear of his Honda CR-V. The trio forced him to hand over his bank cards and ATM PINs. Several withdrawals were made.
At some point, Mahaye left his co-accused and took the bank cards. Mhlongo and Makhaye kept Dwarika at knife point, driving him to the Inanda bushes where they killed him. They disposed of his Honda by setting it alight before fleeing the scene.
When he failed to return home, his family reported him missing to the police. His pictures were circulated on social media, and MUT held a media briefing calling for his safe return. The post-mortem results revealed that his throat had been slit and partially decapitated.
Judge Khosi Hadebe described the trio as low lives and sentenced Makhaye and Mhlongo to life imprisonment each, 15 years each for robbery with aggravating circumstances, and five years each for the kidnapping. Mahaye was sentenced to five years' imprisonment for kidnapping and 15 years' imprisonment for the robbery.
Dwarika's daughter Ayuushi Dwarika-Rajbansi said they were happy with the life imprisonment imposed by the court.
'The sentences were fair and we are happy that the perpetrators got life sentences,' she added.
She said she did not know if the family would ever find closure because of how her father was killed, adding that justice was served.
'The perpetrators were caught and reprimanded for what they had done. Their actions did not go unpunished. There is closure in that aspect. However, the way my dad passed, I don't think we will ever get closure. It will be a pain that we will carry for life.'
She said they were happy with Sihle Mkhize's confession because without him, the police were not going to be able to crack her father's case. Mkhize was acquitted on Wednesday when the court handed down its judgment.
He was with the killers when they killed Dwarika, and he told the court that he went to tell his supervisor at work about what his friends forced him to witness.
When Mkhize told the court what happened, he said Dwarika begged for his life, and his co-accused killed him like a goat.
At one point, Judge Hadebe asked him if he needed to take a break as he would get emotional while leading his evidence.
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