Durban — The Durban High Court has learnt that there were other people selling land which was meant for community development at KwaNdengezi, in Pinetown.
This was revealed on Wednesday during the trial around the murder of Thulani Nxumalo, who was an ANC branch leader in the area. The State alleges that Nxumalo was killed because he had called out the first accused, Felokwakhe Ndlovu, 49, who is the induna for selling land which was given to the community by the Ingonyama Trust.
Ndlovu and his co-accused, Nkosinathi Mbambo, 26, from KwaNgcolosi, and Nkosiyanda Ndlovu, 26, from Greytown, are accused of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, unlawful possession of a firearm and unlawful possession of ammunition. Nxumalo was killed in 2018.
Ndlovu told the court that in 2016 two people, Jimmy Mdadane and Mzi Makhubane, sold land for R7 000, scamming 40 people. Ndlovu said this in court on Wednesday when he was in the dock and was being questioned by advocate Lawrence Gcaba, who is representing the State.
Ndlovu further stated that he went to the deceased, Nxumalo, to alert him to this matter and asked that he tell the station commander as he spent most of the time with him. However, Gcaba said he was shocked by Ndlovu’s revelation because he had told the court that he had never spoken to Nxumalo about anything that had to do with land.
“But did you not say there was never a land discussion between you and Nxumalo? We can play the recording, you said you only spoke to him about people fighting. Now we know that the issue of land being sold for R7 000 was discussed with Nxumalo,” said Gcaba.
Ndlovu replied by saying he did not disclose the amount to Nxumalo, but he spoke to him. The court asked Ndlovu why would people buy land for R7 000 when they could pay R700 for snacks and drinks and get land from him.
Ndlovu had claimed that he was not selling land for his personal gain. He disputed the State’s assertion that he sold it for R10 000 to R12 000, which is why Nxumalo came to condemn him and he decided to kill him. He said people only paid R700 to him as induna, which would be for snacks and drinks, and they would get land.
Furthermore, he said the 40 people were not from his area and they did not know that they could pay R700 and get land. Gcaba asked why Ndlovu chased Mzi away in 2018 when he knew that he was selling land in 2016. Ndlovu said he had summoned Mzi and Jimmy in 2016, but only Mzi showed up.
“Mzi said Jimmy was the one who did all of this. Because Jimmy was not there, I saw that he was running away and he was the culprit. I chased Mzi away because in 2018 he went to Fana Gwala to tell him to stop building on that land and said he was sent by me,” explained Ndlovu.
The State revealed that there was a protest, with people burning tyres because they were angry about Ndlovu selling the land. Gcaba said Ndlovu was called by a station commander in the area to discuss this with him and protesters were there.
However, Ndlovu said he was called because he had to bring in a document from the Ingonyama Trust to show whom the land belonged to. He also said he never saw people burning tyres but he heard about it.
Ndlovu said he was not sure whether the people in the meeting were protesters. He described them as calm during the meeting.
The trial continues on Thursday.
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