Details of how the University of Johannesburg student Palesa Madiba was murdered before her body was buried in a shallow grave have begun to emerge in an indictment prepared for the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg.
The indictment lifts the lid on Madiba’s mysterious disappearance in 2013 before her body was found two years later when it was retrieved from the shallow grave at the home of murder accused Dumisani Mkhwanazi's home on December 16 2015.
The breakthrough to one of Gauteng’s greatest mysteries followed an anonymous tip-off to the police.
An indictment has now revealed more details about the murder and disappearance which the state will put forward when the trial commences in November.
Mkhwanazi, 36, had his matter postponed in absentia yesterday. He has not pleaded to the charges.
Acting judge Audrey Mpofu postponed the matter at the request of the state which had prioritised partly heard matters that stalled during the Covid-19 lockdown period.
Mkhwanazi is facing charges of murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, defeating the ends of justice, and being in possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition.
In an indictment seen by Sowetan, the state aims to prove that Mkhwanazi killed Madiba at his home in Phiri, Soweto.
“During the morning of 12 August 2013 the deceased, Palesa Madiba, was left behind the main house by her friend who she was visiting. Her friend left for work and the deceased prepared to finish with the aim to attend university,” the indictment reads.
“The accused [Mkhwanazi] who stayed in the backroom on the premises at the main house, entered the main house and killed the deceased. The accused further took the cellular phone of the deceased and sold it. The accused buried the deceased on the premises of the main house and [her] body remains were discovered two years afterwards,” alleges the state.
"Mkhwanazi was arrested on March 14, 2019, when he was stopped by police officers while driving his vehicle,“ the state's indictment states.
"The inside of the accused’s vehicle was searched and a firearm with ammunition [were] discovered. The accused was unable to produce a license for the possession of the firearm and the ammunition."
Matshidiso Mkhwanazi, who Madiba was visiting and is the accused’s niece is also expected to testify against her uncle when the trial starts.
Madiba’s uncle, Thabiso Tsoledi, said he expected the matter to be postponed but was happy that the matter was gaining momentum.
“We just have to wait for things to unfold. It’s been seven years since my niece was murdered, but justice will prevail,” Tsoledi said.
Madiba went missing on August 9 2013 after spending the weekend at the Mkwanazi's house in Phiri and was expected home in Diepkloof on the Monday evening. Her remains were found in a shallow grave at Mkhwanazi's home on December 16 2015.
Matshidiso claimed she had last seen Madiba on August 12 2013, when she left home in the morning to go to work.
She said she left Madiba with her uncle who was in her home at the time. The uncle was taken in for questioning by the police, but was later released. Last year, he was arrested and charged with Madiba's murder.
