Devastated father yearns for sentencing D-day on Thando’s killer

The non-stop postponements of the sentencing of the murderer of schoolboy Thando Khumalo are now wreaking emotional havoc on the devastated Khumalo and Masebe families, as they have waited so long to find closure on the horrific incident of the shooting of their son on August 28, 2022.

Thando (20) was fatally shot at close range after a chase, following a road rage incident, as the Grade 11 learner was returning to his home in Tsutsumani Village. This was in the early morning hours, after a night out with six of his friends, when he met his tragic death on the corner of 12th Avenue and Hofmeyr Street.

Convicted murderer Peter Mphulo Magolego, who is a well-known socialite in Alexandra, picked an argument with the boys after a nasty driving incident, and then pulled out a gun, upon which the boys abandoned their car and bolted.
Magolego, a parolee – with yet another murder case hanging over his head, and with a gun in hand – gave chase, and caught up with Thando. Magolego shot Thando in the back of the head, and he died on the spot, while one of the other boys was badly injured in the leg.

Sentencing in the case was set for July 23, only to be postponed to September 5, making this the sixth, or so, postponement on the sentencing stage alone, and the third, or so, on the non-submission of a social worker’s report for the convicted murderer, after he pleaded guilty more than two years after being caught.

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“I am extremely frustrated and devastated by the non-stop postponements of the sentencing of the murderer, who took well over two years to admit guilt. He did so in April this year, after numerous back-and-forth movements on the case between the Alexandra Regional Court and the High Court, to establish which court was better suited to hear the case,” said Thando’s adoptive father, a renowned Alex actor and businessman Sipho Masebe, after the latest postponement.

Masebe is the brother of Thando’s mother, Lindiwe Nkwanyana, who, just before she passed on in 2006, asked her brother to adopt Thando, along with his elder brother, Siyabonga Khumalo.
“This case has been dragging on for years, and my family, and I, have had all our energy drained out. We desperately want to start healing and move on with our lives, even though this won’t bring back our son.

“We can only do so knowing that the murderer of our son has paid his dues for the callous and cowardly act. We just want justice for Thando. Seeing this monster sentenced will finally give us the peace and solace we deserve,” said an emotional Masebe as he visibly fought back tears.

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Masebe said the two families, Masebe and Khumalo, and Thando’s siblings, need to focus on healing and continuing with their therapy sessions in a peaceful state, adding that these delays in passing the sentence were preventing all that.
“I trust, and cross my fingers, that September 5 will be the D-day, and that this monster gets what he deserves for mowing down my son,” Masebe concluded.