Family prayer for murdered gran, daughter and child
|Published
Durban — Tuesday marked a year since the murders of grandmother Zanele Ndlela, 65, her daughter Simangele Ndlela, 46 and granddaughter Zenande Ndlela, 7, near Pietermaritzburg.
The Ndlela family, from an area called Sobantu, held a prayer in the family home in remembrance of their slain relatives.
The three were strangled. Zanele sustained blunt force head injuries, deep scalp bruising, lacerations to her eyelid as well as severe brain haemorrhage. Her face was battered and swollen with a number of open wounds that could be seen.
Simangele also suffered a blunt force head injury as well as a chest wound. She had a five-by-one centimetre superficial abrasion to the neck and left temple.
Simangele’s younger brother Lindelani Ndlela said it was a sore reminder of the brutal murders.
“It just reminded me of what I am trying to get out of my mind. I have never been able to get over the murders, it hurts still today. At night I still can’t sleep thinking about what happened and having the prayer has made it seem like the murders happened just yesterday. Every day I live with the fact that they are gone, seeing their pictures at home reminds me of them all the time,” Lindelani said.
July 2023, will also be a year since Njabulo Ndlovu, 29, was sentenced in the Pietermaritzburg High Court for the murders. Ndlovu pleaded guilty before now KwaZulu-Natal Judge President Thoba Poyo-Dlwati.
Poyo-Dlwati in sentencing highlighted that Ndlovu did not fully take the court into his confidence in explaining why he raped Zenande twice and why he killed an elderly Zanele instead of leaving their home.
After Ndlovu’s sentencing, the Daily News unearthed how he had been released from jail a month before the triple murder.
In September 2021, police released a statement appealing to members of the community to assist in tracing and locating Ndlovu.
A warrant of arrest had been issued for him in relation to the murder of his step-aunt Ntombifuthi Regina Chivambu, 48.
She was found lying on the bed. She was strangled and a towel was stuffed into her mouth.
Ndlovu was also being sought for a case of kidnapping a girl, 15, in December 2019. A case was opened at Highflats SAPS and was investigated by the Port Shepstone Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences unit.
According to Ndlovu’s relatives the 15-year-old had been his girlfriend but turned up dead.
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