Sangoma's killer gets 44yrs

2006-06-08 12:18

Nkosana ka Makaula

Nelspruit - A man has been jailed for 44 years for killing a sangoma because she told him to come back for a consultation the following day.

Vusi Sineth Metane, 26, of Marite near Hazyview had gone to the sangoma on the night of November 20, 2003, for help with his domestic problems.

When the sangoma, Assah Norah Sifundza, told him to come back the following day, he shot her in the head and upper arm.

She survived and when she came out of hospital three days later, he broke in through a kitchen window and shot her dead in her house.

He also shot and injured her son, Zakhele, but missed her boyfriend, Simon Hluphile Ndlovu, who hid behind a low wall.

Metane was jailed by the Nelspruit circuit of the Pretoria High Court on Wednesday.

He had pleaded not guilty to the charges, which included murder, three of attempted murder, one of housebreaking with intent to murder and one each of possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition.

He said he'd been at home in Marite, but his victims were able to positively identify him.

The judge, Justice Nico Coetzee, said that the fact that Metane had lost his father at the age of nine did not make him unique.

"There are a lot of men who grew up like you did, but they don't do what you did," he said.

Speaking outside court after sentence, Zakhele and his sister Nikky said they personally believed that their mother was the victim of an organised assassination.

"There is a lot that was not said here in court," said Zakhele. "He should have told the cops the truth. By keeping quiet, he is the only one who is going to jail."

- African Eye