Africa-Press – South-Africa. A Mpumalanga man who aspired to be a musician was jailed for life for the murder of his father, who refused to support his career.
The Mpumalanga High Court in Mbombela on 3 February sentenced Siphamandla Gift Khumalo, 22, after he pleaded guilty to the murder of Bheki Eric Khumalo, 47.
The court heard that the father and son lived together in Mayflower.
Their relationship became strained after the father failed to support his career as a musician, National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Monica Nyuswa said.
In his plea, he told the court that his father wanted him to pursue a career in engineering instead.
As a result, Nyuswa said, he considered his father as a stumbling block to his dream.
He left home and went to Ermelo, where his father was conducting business.
“He armed himself with a knife and waited for [his father] to arrive, then produced a knife and fatally stabbed him in the neck,” Nyuswa said.
State advocate Eugene Mathebula handed in a victim impact statement from his father’s widow.
In it, she said her husband was the sole breadwinner and that “life has become a nightmare” since his death.
Arguing in aggravation of sentence, Mathebula said the son had caused her grief and had taken away her soulmate.
The judge agreed with the State and found that there were no compelling and substantial circumstances to deviate from the prescribed minimum sentence of life imprisonment.
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