LIFE IMPRISONMENT FOR FEMICIDE 

08 December 2025

LIFE IMPRISONMENT FOR FEMICIDE 

The Madadeni Regional Court has sentenced a 39-year-old man to a term of life imprisonment for the murder of a woman in the Osizweni area in April 2024. The accused and the deceased were involved in a relationship, and the accused was employed to look after a homestead in the area, so he and the deceased lived on the property together. Before the incident (the day before), the accused told his friend that the deceased had cheated on him and that she had used a love potion on him. 

The following day, the accused went to the same friend and told him that he had killed the deceased because of her alleged infidelity and the use of the love potion. The accused showed him the knife he had used to commit the offence. They then went to the accused’s employer’s homestead, where the accused told his employer what he had done. Thereafter, the accused took his friend and his employer to the house and showed them the body of the deceased. While his employer advised him to hand himself over to the police, the accused fled the area and was eventually arrested in the Northwest province. 

In court, Prosecutor Zama Zikalala led the evidence of the accused’s employer and the accused’s friend. A postmortem report further bolstered the state’s case. In aggravation of the sentence, the state led the testimony of the deceased’s mother. She told the court that her daughter was a breadwinner who supported her two children. She further stated that the children were struggling to come to terms with their mother’s death, and the family was traumatised by the incident. The accused was sentenced accordingly and declared unfit to possess a firearm. 

The NPA welcomes the successful finalisation of the matter. Curbing the scourge of gender-based violence and femicide is an organisational priority, and as South Africa observes the 16 Days of Activism Campaign, we remain resolute in our fight for justice on behalf of the victims of crime and their families. 

Issued by: 

Natasha Ramkisson-Kara 

NPA Regional Spokesperson 

KZN Division 

071 6700 229