” The justice system failed us”

Having attended back-to-back court hearings to get to the bottom of their mother’s murder, the Nyokong family finally received a verdict on 19 January 2023.

For months, the family has been caught between coming to terms with her brutal death and finding closure to cope with what had happened. The family has spent months hoping justice is served. “We just want to know why; only then will we start taking steps to find closure,” the family said to the Herald in August last year.

Binni Magdeline Mogaki was brutally murdered and found dead in her home on 17 July 2021. On the morning Mogaki was found in her home in Ikageng, police noticed she had been strangled to death with a piece of string they found around her neck. Her body had been bundled into the washing machine. During the initial investigation, it was established that the deceased lived alone, and only her cell phone and house keys were missing.

Bonginkosi Sihle Delabantu (29) pleaded guilty to the murder on 19 January 2023. What the family thought would finally set them free felt like hearing about their mother’s murder all over again. “We wanted the truth from him, but you could hear that his entire statement was a made-up story,” Tshegetsang Nyokong, who was extremely close to her grandmother, explained.

According to the accused, he was the only one involved in the murder. “Nothing from the timeline makes any sense,” Tshegetsang lamented. “How do you cover someone’s mouth to keep her silent while tying her hands all on your own?” The family says their grandmother was surprisingly strong for her age and would have found a way to survive had he been alone. “None of it makes any sense. Instead, we have found ourselves back to square one,” Brenda Nyokong, Mogaki’s only child, said.

Immediately after the verdict, Brenda and her eldest daughter Ofentse Matlatla had to go to the hospital for examination. “We, as a family, have not been okay since the verdict,” Brenda said. “The justice system has failed us,” she added, wiping her tears.

Since the news, the family has had to take each day as it comes. It is almost the second anniversary of their mother’s murder, and the family is still trying to navigate their way through life.

Her everyday WhatsApp messages, sound advice and bubbly personality are what Binni Magdeline Mogaki’s family say they miss most about her. Brenda says a part of her died when she lost her mother.

“I spend most days trying to hold on to the good memories we created as a family, but I am honestly struggling to cope,” she said. “My mother was the only elder left in the family. Everyone would go to her for advice. Now that she is gone, I have automatically had to fill those shoes, which are, honestly, just too big for me,” she added.

Paul Nyokong, Brenda’s husband, says his wife has not been the same since her mother’s murder; the recent news has only made things worse. He has been Brenda’s biggest support and also has difficulty accepting what has happened. “My mother-in-law was such a sweet and loving person,” he said.

In a previous interview, the couple said it was especially heartbreaking to witness how the situation has affected their children. “Our daughters were extremely close to their grandmother, and it has become evident that losing her has left a huge void that even we can’t fill,” Paul said.

Besides what they feel was a completely made-up story, the family is even more hurt that the accused showed no remorse after pleading guilty. “What shattered us even more was that the court seemed to be more on his side than ours,” Tshegetsang lamented.

“They considered that he was a breadwinner and first-time offender. He only got a 15-year sentence, which we know will decrease with time,” she said. While the family tries to accept what has happened, they continue to lean on each other for support. The Herald reached out to the National Prosecuting Authority regarding the family’s complaints but had not received any feedback by the time of print