Africa-Press – Eswatini. Sipho Shongwe has been found guilty of murdering late businessman Victor Gamedze in 2018 at Galp Filling Station, Ezulwini.
The judge is, however, yet to mete out sentencing.
The dreadful incident happened as Gamedze was returning home after watching his team Mbabane Swallows win against Manzini Wanderers at the Somhlolo National Stadium in an Ingwenyama Cup clash. Shongwe was charged with murder with furtherance of a common purpose with Sandile ‘Dzodzo’ Zikalala, Mbuso ‘Ncaza’ Nkosi and Simphiwe ‘Tata’ Ngubane.
Nkosi and Ngubane were, however, made State witnesses while Zikalala is still wanted by the police.
At the time of his arrest, Shongwe was a businessman and also Director of Matsapha United Football Club.
High Court Judge, Nkosinathi Maseko, sitting in Court C at the High Court, found Shongwe guilty.
Judge Maseko took seven and half hours reading his judgment before a courtroom comprising mostly of Shongwe’s relatives and supporters, among which was his son, Sifiso, who was recently sworn-in as a Member of Parliament after winning the elections in the Kwaluseni Constituency.
Shongwe’s wife Vuyiswa Siyaya was also in attendance.
They were all in a sombre mood upon learning that the judge had found him guilty.
However, Shongwe did not show any emotions and maintained his composure while reassuring his relatives and supporters that all would be fine.
The judge pronounced the verdict at about 6.30pm, having started reading the judgment from 10am.
The length of the judgment was caused by the judge having to read testimonies from witnesses paraded by both the Crown and defence.
The Crown was represented by Senior Counsel Macebo Nxumalo, who instructed Advocate Michael Hellens, while the defence (Shongwe) was represented by Lucky Howe, who had instructed Advocate Lawrence Hodes.
However, the advocates were not present when the judgment was delivered.
In his judgment, Judge Maseko said Shongwe could have been away from the crime scene when Gamedze was killed, wanting to be seen as someone who did not kill Gamedze, yet he had people who worked for him.
He said the testimonies given by the witnesses were consistent with one another and that the witnesses were independent of one another.
Judge Maseko said there was no way in which all of these witnesses would just point to Shongwe out of the blue.
The judge said Shongwe did what all crime kingpins would do, which was to stay out of the crime operations and let their workers do all the dirty work.
However, he said such kingpins forgot that some of these workers, upon being nabbed, would then be turned into accomplice witnesses and testified against their own kingpins, especially if they were forced to commit the criminal acts.
The judge also said the disappearance of Sandile ‘Dzodzo’ Zikalala also pointed to Shongwe’s involvement because there was ample evidence pointing out to an interaction between the two.
The judge arrived at the guilty version after relying on testimonies given by Crown witnesses who included senior police detective Sikhumbuzo Fakudze, Mbuso ‘Ncaza’ Nkosi, Simphiwe ‘Tata’ Ngubane, Steve Horton, Sipho Thulani Bhembe (now deceased), and Sifiso Mbhalo Hlophe.
Judge Maseko stated that the testimonies from these witnesses, among others, were credible and could make one believe that Shongwe was indeed guilty of killing the late soccer administrator. He said Horton told the court that they once had a conversation with Shongwe together with businessman Mike Mamba.
The conversation took place in one of the filling stations in Manzini.
Horton, according to the judge, stated that Shongwe expressed his dissatisfaction on the way in which Gamedze ran the Premier League of Eswatini, the country’s administrative organisation of the football teams.
Horton, according to Judge Maseko, said Shongwe told Mamba and him that he was about to eliminate Gamedze because he was becoming fed up with the way he was running the organisation because it was full of corruption.
To the judge, such a statement was a threat, which meant that he could kill Gamedze.
The judge was convinced that upon hearing that Gamedze had been shot, Horton and others had a valid reason to believe that Shongwe could be responsible for his death.
Regarding Bhembe’s testimony, the judge said the late public transport businessman told the court that upon hearing that Gamedze had been shot, he suspected Shongwe, among other people to be responsible.
Bhembe, according to the court, said Shongwe would talk to him and express his concerns about the way in which Gamedze ran the affairs in the country’s football industry.
Bhembe is said to have testified that Shongwe had even asked him if he knew some hitmen who could execute the job for him.
He said he knew the people who could do the job but was against the idea of killing Gamedze, as he also got along with him.
Bhembe further stated that he had seen Ncaza at Somhlolo National Stadium on the fateful day of January 14, 2018. He said he was with Gamedze, where he was watching the game between Mbabane Swallows and Manzini Wanderers.
He said Nkosi was in the company of Zikalala and said he did not know their motive at that time.
However, after learning of the death of Gamedze’s death, he was shocked, like many other people.
Bhembe is said to have also testified that he was shocked even more when he saw the picture of the person suspected to be behind Gamedze’s shooting in the newspapers. He said this was Nkosi, whom he had seen at the stadium.
After that, he quickly concluded that Zikalala and Nkosi could be responsible for Gamedze’s death, said the judge.
Regarding Ngubane’s testimony, the judge said he told the court that Nkosi told him of a certain job that was supposed to be executed in Eswatini.
Ngubane told the court that a certain man, who was a businessman, had huge amounts of money in the boot of his car. Ngubane, according to the judgment, said he thought Gamedze was to be robbed of his money and would shoot him after realising that he was fighting.
The judge said according to Ngubane, there was no intention of killing Gamedze, but he was surprised to find that Ncaza had killed him on January 14 and sped off, living him behind at Ezulwini.
He went to the scene where Gamedze was shot and heard about him for the first time.
He said he heard people suspecting that Manzini Wanderers fans could be behind Gamedze’s shooting. Ngubane later met Zikalala and Nkosi in Mbabane and asked him why they had killed Gamedze and Nkosi eventually told him that he was hired to kill him.
The judge stated that he admitted Ngubane’s evidence as credible because there were times when Zikalala and Nkosi would leave him alone at the guest house where they were staying prior to killing Gamedze.
They also left him at Ezulwini after Gamedze was killed.
The judge said it was possible that Nkosi and Zikalala did not tell Ngubane that Gamedze was to be killed. Judge Maseko said Sifiso Mbhalo Hlophe also told the court that Zikalala was also seen at a nearby fuel pump at Galp Filling Station when Gamedze was shot.
He said Hlophe had described himself as a person who was a Zionist and had a gift of healing.
The judge said Hlophe described Shongwe as his client.
Nkosi, according to the judge, was approached by Shongwe in Soweto, South Africa.
Shongwe is said to have been looking for a person to kill Gamedze, who was interfering with his business dealings and made sure that he could not traffic his drugs into Eswatini.
Nkosi, according to the judgment, refused to take the job, but finally did after Shongwe scared him as he threatened to hurt (Nkosi’s) first born son, as he knew where he lived. Shongwe is also said to have told Nkosi that he knew where the latter’s girlfriend, who was pregnant at the time, lived.
The testimonies given by the witnesses above convinced Judge Maseko that Shongwe was involved in killing Gamedze.
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