The Durban High Court has sentenced two men to life imprisonment for the murder of Wandile Aphiwe Ngcobo, who was brutally killed while she was at home studying for her Grade 11 exams. 

Judge Garth Harrison sentenced Sifundo Bongani Bhengu, a neighbour, to 20 years’ imprisonment for robbery with aggravating circumstances and life imprisonment for the murder of Wandile.

Bongani Freedom Jali was also sentenced to life imprisonment for killing Wandile and 15 years imprisonment for robbery with aggravating circumstances.

Wandile was killed on May 28, 2024. She was home alone as her younger sister had gone to school and her father, Mondli Ngcobo, was at work. She chose to stay behind to study.  

Bhengu and Jali entered her home and robbed her of her cellphone, taking a television and a Puma backpack.

During the trial, the court learned that the duo hatched a plan to go and steal from Wandile’s home because they wanted money to buy drugs. A television set was sold in the Durban CBD to a foreign national as the duo claimed that he would pay more money. 

Additionally, both of them knew that Wandile was in the house, but they still proceeded with their plan.

Wandile’s body was found gagged and bound with pantyhose.

Judge Harrison said Wandile was gagged with a pantyhose to prevent her from screaming. 

As he handed down his sentence, he said he found no compelling reasons to deviate from minimum sentences, adding that the duo kept on blaming each other for Wandile’s murder. 

“The tragedy is that in this, neither (accused) has shown remorse,” Judge Harrison added.  

He told Jali, who has been claiming that the trial was part of community outrage posted on social media against him, that he was not a victim but a perpetrator. 

“I convicted you of not having seen this outrage on social media,” Judge Harrison explained.

Jali had also claimed that the investigating officer plotted with a State witness, Nkululeko ‘Sticks’ Mbatha, to implicate him. He said the court convicted him because his version was a lie. 

He said the suggestion that Jali was under the influence of drugs during the commission of the crimes was not mitigating but aggravating.

According to Judge Harrison, the duo conceded that they committed the offence to get more drugs. 

“Jali sought to repeat the suggestion that he went along with Bhengu to Ngcobo’s home because he was scared, forgetting that in the trial, he said he went along for drug money.”  

Moreover, he said Bhengu suggested that he was remorseful and knew how Ngcobo felt, as he had a daughter. 

The judge said Bhengu had the audacity to suggest that he should be treated as a whistle-blower or a Section 204 witness (a compelled witness to testify against their co-accused with the potential to incriminate themselves, in exchange for the possibility of indemnity from prosecution).

The judge told Ngcobo that he had read his victim impact statement, and he knows it’s hard, but Wandile would want him to support and live for her younger sister. 

Addressing the gallery consisting of community members, who have always come into court in numbers, Judge Harrison said: “Support each other, be there for all children in the community so we don’t have a repeat of what he had here.”

nomonde.zondi@inl.co.za

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