Court links top ANC KZN official's vehicle to state witness murder
KWAZULU-NATAL member of the legislature, Dr Ntuthuko Mahlaba, who is also the chairperson of committees has been linked to a vehicle used by hitmen who allegedly killed a state witness in his hometown of Newcastle where he used to be mayor.
Image: Independent Newspapers Archives
A prominent KwaZulu-Natal ANC member of the provincial legislature (MPL) and former regional leader and MEC, Dr Ntuthuko Mahlaba, has been linked in court to a vehicle allegedly used to buy food for hitmen accused of murdering a key state witness in a case in which he was once charged.
The allegation emerged in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Thursday during the murder trial of ANC activist and businessman Martin Nkosenhle Sithole, 47, and his friend Buthanani Shange, 63, a former principal. The two were gunned down outside Sithole's shop on Voortrekker Street in Newcastle on the evening of May 12, 2019. Shange was a month away from retirement.
Sithole, had been a state witness in the 2016 murder case of ANC Youth League deputy chairperson in Mbuso Kubheka Region (formerly eMalahleni Region) Wandile Manqasha Ngubeni in Newcastle. Following Sithole’s death, the murder charge against Mahlaba was withdrawn.
During Ngubeni's attack, gunmen stormed an eatery in Newcastle and sprayed bullets, wounding Mafika Mndebele, the then Mbuso Kubheka region's chairperson. Mndebele is now an MPL and chairperson of the economic development and tourism committee. He served as provincial spokesperson of the ANC.
Evidence led in court revealed that a vehicle allegedly used by the hitmen to buy food on the night of Sithole’s killing had been hired by Mahlaba from ANC Mbuso Kubheka Regional Task Team member Ally Khoza.
At the time of Sithole’s death, Mahlaba was the Mayor of Newcastle. After a fairly young bloc, popularly known as the Taliban, made a clean sweep at the 9th ANC KZN elective conference in July 24, 2022, Mahlaba was elected as provincial treasurer, and served as MEC for several portfolios, including Human Settlements and Public Works, and Sports, Arts and Culture.
The Taliban consisted of Mahlaba, Siboniso Duma, Bheki Mtolo, Sipho Hlomuka and Magugu Simelane, a provincial structure that was dissolved by the ANC after the humiliating May 2024 national and provincial elections. Mahlaba is currently a member of the provincial legislature and chairperson of committees.
Khoza testified that he lent his bakkie to Mahlaba in the lead up to the 2019 national and provincial elections.
“He asked to borrow my car because it has better ground clearance, and he gave me his to use,” Khoza told the court. He said Mahlaba never returned his bakkie, even after buying his own bakkie.
Khoza further testified that he later saw his bakkie being driven by people he did not know, including one of the accused, Phakama Radebe. He said he had never given permission to another accused, Philani Thwala, to drive the vehicle and did not know him at all.
State prosecutor Advocate Lawrence Gcaba presented images in court allegedly showing Thwala driving Khoza’s bakkie on the day Sithole was murdered.
The court heard that the occupants of the vehicle bought food at a Newcastle filling station late at night. Receipts for the food were later found at a house where the alleged hitmen were staying.
Khoza said he was shocked when police showed him photographs of Thwala driving his vehicle while he (Khoza) was being detained and questioned over Sithole’s killing.
He testified that police told him Thwala had claimed he was sent to buy food using the bakkie. Three men, Thwala, Radebe and Mmeli Nxumalo, are facing charges for the murders of Sithole and Shange. All the accused have pleaded not guilty and are denying the charges.