It seemed as if Themba Shongwe, accused of raping and killing young girls from eMbalenhle, was trying to confuse the court during his most recent trial appearance on September 3.
State Advocate Tracy Keen-Horak first told the court Shongwe was disrespectful to her as an officer of the court because he was calling her by her first name, while she respectfully addressed him as Mr Shongwe.
Keen-Horak was cross-examining Shongwe about the testimony of the witnesses, including family members of the four murdered girls.
Keen-Horak asked Shongwe about the testimony of Bongani Nkutha, father of Nokulunga Nkutha (11) who was killed in 2016.
Nkutha previously told the court that he and Shongwe were playing for the same soccer team but in different divisions.
He also testified Shongwe knew Nokulunga because he, as Bongani Nkutha used to pass near Shongwe’s home with his daughter and her siblings. Nkutha said Shongwe used to play with the children, Nokulunga and her cousin Lerato (who was also an alleged victim of Shongwe).
Nkutha claimed Shongwe sometimes joined and walked with them. When Keen-Horak first asked Shongwe if he knew little Nokulunga, he responded by saying yes, but when she continued to cross-examine him about Bongani
Nkutha’s testimony, Shongwe began denying knowing Nokulunga. Keen-Horak then asked Shongwe why he did not dispute this while Nkutha testified.
Shongwe then replied if that was how Nkutha saw things, he would not dispute what Nkutha had said.
Shongwe also claimed that at the time of Nokulunga’s murder, he was employed at a company at Bracken and used to knock off at 03:30.
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He would then walk from Bracken to Mandela Section in eMbalenhle, from where he took a taxi home in Ext 17. He said he did not have time to see Nokulunga.
However, Keen-Horak said there was no evidence, such as a payslip or timesheet, to prove that Shongwe was employed. She said he had ample time to ask his mother or sister, who were always at court, to get it for him.
Though magistrate Graham Cupido told Shongwe to give a simple yes or no answer if asked questions, Shongwe kept explaining.
When Keen-Horak asked Shongwe about his whereabouts on May 7, 2018, when Lerato Nkutha went missing, Shongwe said he was at a tavern drinking with his friends.
He said they were on their way home when he saw a group of people close to his house. Someone told him they were looking for a missing child.
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Then the prosecutor said Shongwe had previously testified that in 2018, he was self-employed and also a loan shark.
“You said you were self-employed, building shacks for people willing to pay you, and you were a loan shark, but you are failing to tell us how much you were making. It is also surprising that you were a loan shark when you were borrowing money from the community.
Phindile Dhladhla and other witnesses testified that you and your mother used to borrow money from them, but you were a loan shark,” asked the prosecutor.
Shongwe responded by saying the community used to assist one another. He lends them money and they also borrow him money.
After a break, Shongwe told the court he was not feeling well, and the magistrate postponed the trial to September 20.
