No bail for man accused of killing Gqeberha pupil and her mom
Premium
By Riaan Marais - 12 June 2025
Found to be a potential danger to state witnesses, the alleged mastermind behind the double murder of a Collegiate Girls' High School pupil and her mother was denied bail on Wednesday.
Nceba Maji, 44, accused of planning the botched hit that claimed the lives of Hailie-Jade Coboza, 19, and her mother, Lusanda, 40, looked dejected as court orderlies led him back to the holding cells at the Gqeberha magistrate's court...
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Mail & Guardian
14 minutes ago
- Mail & Guardian
Murder as a message: When assassins set the local government agenda
Killing fields: More people in local government are murdered in KwaZulu-Natal than anywhere else in the country. Photo: Paul Botes Let's not tiptoe around it — local government in South Africa has become a killing field. In the past five years alone, 37 municipal officials and 59 councillors have been murdered across the country, according to official data compiled by These statistics are not merely numbers; they represent a deeply disturbing signal of the erosion of democratic governance and public accountability at the very foundation of our state. The recent assassinations of municipal officials in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal — two of the most affected provinces — underscore the climate of fear that is spreading through local government. In Gauteng, 11 officials were murdered in the 2019-to-2024 period. In KwaZulu-Natal, the number climbs to 17. These figures do not include attempted assassinations, threats, or acts of intimidation, which are becoming chillingly routine. Such violence is not random. It is systemic and often politically motivated — used to silence whistleblowers, intimidate reformers and secure control over lucrative tenders and municipal budgets. South Africa's municipalities have become sites of both political patronage and contestation, where violence is increasingly a tool of influence. Local government is meant to be the sphere closest to the people, but in many places, it is also the most dysfunctional. The In recent cases, murdered officials have often been linked to procurement investigations, disciplinary processes and efforts to clamp down on corruption. In 2022, the killing of a municipal finance officer in Tshwane was reportedly tied to revelations about misallocated Covid-19 relief funds. Earlier, a whistleblower in Harry Gwala district municipality was gunned down after raising concerns about irregular housing tenders. Yet, even as these patterns emerge, arrests remain rare and convictions even more so. This impunity reinforces a dangerous message — violence pays in South African politics. To understand this crisis, one must examine not only who is being targeted, but also who is being protected. While councillors and municipal staff are frequently exposed and unprotected, high-ranking party operatives often benefit from enhanced state security. The lack of parity in protection reinforces existing hierarchies and undermines the professionalisation of local administration. A 2024 report by the The violence is enabled by a toxic culture of political patronage, in which local government jobs are awarded based on party loyalty rather than merit. According to These systems create a fragile loyalty network, where internal dissent is not only punished with demotion or expulsion, but increasingly with death. This pattern is especially visible in factional party structures, where internal competition can turn deadly. The failure of party-political mechanisms to manage these internal contests is pushing the contestation into the public arena — with tragic consequences. Every murdered official leaves behind a community further alienated from public service. In KwaZulu-Natal's Umzimkhulu municipality, the 2017 assassination of Sindi Dlathu, a courageous audit committee chairperson, remains unresolved. Her death left a void in financial oversight, with reports indicating a rise in irregular expenditure in the next two financial years. Local civil society groups, such as Despite the gravity of these attacks, South Africa lacks a coherent, nationwide local government protection framework. The Compare this to Colombia and Mexico — two countries with equally alarming patterns of local political violence. Both have specialised protection programmes for at-risk public officials, coordinated by national bodies that integrate intelligence, police protection and community liaison strategies. South Africa must develop a similarly targeted response, not only to protect lives, but to safeguard democratic institutions at the community level. What's perhaps most concerning is how normalised these killings have become in our public discourse. News headlines read more like gangland reports than governance alerts. Public outrage is often fleeting. The victims are frequently forgotten, their deaths buried beneath bureaucratic inertia or party spin. South Africa cannot afford to continue down this path. Protecting local government officials from violence is not only a matter of personal security, but one of national stability. A democracy where fear silences dissent is not a democracy at all. Municipal officials are the frontline workers of governance. Their murder is a message — and one we can no longer ignore. Dr Lesedi Senamele Matlala is a governance researcher and lecturer at the School of Public Management, Governance and Public Policy, University of Johannesburg. He writes on public policy, evaluation and digital governance in Africa.
The Herald
2 hours ago
- The Herald
'He still has not come here': Mpofu says Ramaphosa still owes Marikana families an apology
Workers and Socialist Party (WASP) and Socialist Youth Movement (SYM) are demanding justice for the Marikana massacre victims and want the alleged killers prosecuted, including President Cyril Ramaphosa and police commanders. Saturday marked the 13th anniversary of the massacre when 34 mineworkers were killed by police during a strike at Lonmin Mine in Marikana in North West. Mineworkers had downed tools and participated in unprotected wage strikes. A total of 44 people lost their lives during the strike. Police allegedly shot 34 on August 16 2012. WASP and SYM believe the massacre was not a police operation that went wrong, claiming it was a deliberate act of violence to protect the profits of Lonmin (now Sibanye-Stillwater) and the capitalist mining industry. 'In its execution, it was premeditated. The ANC government, under Jacob Zuma, deployed police to crush worker resistance, proving once and for all that the ANC is no longer a movement for liberation but a bloody instrument of mining monopoly capital,' said WASP national executive committee member Mametlwe Sebei. Sebie said WASP and SYM were demanding the nationalisation of the mines under workers' control and a living wage for all workers — a R15,000 minimum wage now and a universal basic income grant of R1,500. He said Cosatu should break away from the ANC, as should all trade unions aligned with other capitalist parties, to unite into a united working class front, and a mass workers' party to fight for socialism. 'Even today, no-one has been held accountable. Cyril Ramaphosa, then a Lonmin director who called for 'concomitant action' against the strikers, is now president — showing the ANC's true allegiance. The Farlam commission was a whitewash and the police and politicians who ordered the killings remain free,' Seabi said.
The Herald
2 hours ago
- The Herald
Former North West traffic cop who killed girlfriend rearrested for retrial
William Mosiane, the North West traffic officer previously sentenced to life imprisonment for killing his girlfriend, Dimpho Motlodi, has been rearrested ahead of a retrial. National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Sivenathi Gunya confirmed that Mosiane was taken into custody on Saturday and is expected to appear in court on Monday on murder charges. Last week, TimesLIVE's sister publication, Sowetan reported that Motlodi's family was shocked to encounter Mosiane, whom they believed was serving a life sentence in a correctional facility. In March 2021, Mosiane shot Motlodi five times in front of their then nine-year-old son. After the attack, he allegedly took their son and left Motlodi at the scene before surrendering to the police. Mosiane was later released on bail. During the November 2023 trial, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. However, Mosiane successfully appealed against the conviction, arguing that the magistrate, Paul Moeng, erred by failing to ensure the presence of assessors during the trial. SowetanLIVE
