Ngombane in-laws in court

2005-07-21 13:55

Bloemfontein - The brother and sister of the wife of slain Free State official Noby Ngombane appeared in the Bloemfontein district court on Thursday in connection with his murder.

Ngombane, who was 38 when he was gunned down at his Hillsboro home on March 22, was the head of the Free State government's policy monitoring and evaluation unit in premier Beatrice Marshoff's office.

Bongani Mlambo, 28, and his sister Sephumle Booi, 23, were arrested earlier and were attempting to apply for bail, a Sapa reporter on the scene said.

Police spokesperson Superintendent Annelie Wrensch said they are the sister and brother of Ngombane's widow Nokwanda.

The state is applying for a remand order so that they can be held for seven days without bail, to enable the arrest of a third person but the defence wants to proceed immediately to apply for bail.

Mlambo faces a charge of murder and Booi faces a charge of accessory after the fact.

Nokwanda was believed to be on her way to the packed court from Johannesburg.

Police had included politics as a motive in their investigation but now exclude it.

"I can tell you it is not political," Wrensch told Sapa.

At his funeral Nokwanda, who was a personal assistant in Marshoff's office, said, "We (are) talking about a political assassination and that is what it is.

"Let us not beat around the bush when it is said that this murder is a mystery whose motives are unclear."

Ngombane was also the premier's and the provincial government spokesperson, as well as a close confidant of the premier and a former spokesperson of the African National Congress in the Free State.

A distraught Marshoff had to be treated by paramedics at his funeral.

At the time of his death he had been embroiled in a number of departmental disagreements.

- SAPA