Durban — A KwaZulu-Natal court has sentenced a man to life imprisonment for stabbing his ex-girlfriend to death days after they broke up.
Nhlanhla Zikhali, 42, was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Ngwelezane Regional Court for the murder of his ex-girlfriend, Winile Zwane, in the KwaMbonambi area in February 2023.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) KwaZulu-Natal spokesperson Natasha Ramkisson-Kara said Zikhali and Zwane were in a relationship, and a few days before the murder they broke up and he chased her out of their shared residence. Zwane then went to live with a friend.
Ramkisson-Kara said that on February 27, 2023, three days after their breakup, Zwane was walking to her friend’s house when she saw her neighbour. The neighbour invited her into her homestead, where the neighbour and her family were drinking alcohol.
Zikhali, who was also there, walked up to Zwane and began stabbing her all over her body. He threatened to stab others when they approached him. He stabbed Zwane until she died and then fled the scene. He was arrested almost two months later, Ramkisson-Kara said.
She said that in court, prosecutor Xolani Ndlela led evidence of two eyewitnesses and a photo album. Witnesses were able to identify Zikhali and the area where Zwane was killed was well lit.
“In addition to the life sentence, Zikhali was declared unfit to possess a firearm,” Ramkisson-Kara said.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the National Council of Provinces passed three bills during its plenary.
One of the bills, the National Council on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide Bill, seeks to, among others, establish the National Council on Gender-based Violence and Femicide.
The aim is to set up a multi-sectoral, independent and non-partisan statutory body, which acts through its board and is responsible for providing strategic leadership on addressing gender-based violence (GBV) and femicide in South Africa. It further provides for the objects and functions of the council, the appointment of the board of the council and its members, and it determines the board’s term.
The National Council must manage the country’s approach to eliminating GBV and femicide in collaboration with relevant stakeholders, and its priorities must be aligned with various national frameworks. This follows the Presidential Summit Declaration against GBV and Femicide of 2018 to prevent and eliminate the endemic abuse and murder of South African women.
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