Family members of a woman who died after she was stabbed 20 times, allegedly by her jilted lover, were in tears on Wednesday, after the Johannesburg Magistrates' Court ordered that the man be admitted in a psychiatric institution for mental observation.
Sibongiseni Patrick Zondi allegedly stabbed the mother of his two children Nonhle Chairmane Mbonambi in Summit club in Hillbrow where she worked as a waitress.
Nonhle’s family from Stanger in KwaZulu-Natal said they were not pleased with the court’s process claiming that since the matter started, it always gets postponed for different reasons.
“We are saddened that the matter is dragging. Since we started [in] January, they have always been postponing. He has confessed to killing Nonhle and even admitted that he has been planning it for a year,” said Nonhle’s aunt Lindiwe Mbonambi
Recounting events leading up to her 24-year-old niece’s demise, Mbonambi said Nonhle and Zondi’s relationship had always been volatile until her niece decided to breakup with the accused.
“Nonhle was no longer in love with him and he didn’t want to accept it. His friends told us that he told them that he will kill Nonhle if he can’t have her, he didn’t keep it a secret, it was known.”
The aunt said they were informed by Zondi’s friends that he bought two big knives two weeks before committing the murder.
The 42-year-old man allegedly went to the club on December 27, 2016, an hour before Nonhle could start her shift.
“He sat and waited for her, when she came in, he went to her and stabbed her twenty times and also slit her throat.”
The deceased’s mother Zinhle Jennifer Mbonambi was overcome with emotions as she tried to explain how life has been since her daughter was brutally murdered.
“It really hurts, even the kids cry and ask me where is their mother,” she said while weeping.
She whisked away by relatives who tried to calm her down.
Nonhle’s mother is raising her three children aged 10, five and three-years-old.
African National Congress Women’s League (ANCWL) spokesperson Jacqui Mofokeng said they will continue to support the family until the court finalises the matter.
“Every time a person has to go for a matter in court they play insane, this is what makes cases to be prolonged because people want to play in the psychiatric hospitals. But we are saying we are not going to be tired.”
The accused was remanded in custody, the matter was postponed to July 19.