Thembinkosi Nzimakwe’s head was in the process of being sold to a traditional healer near the traditional medicine market in Durban when one of his alleged killers was caught carrying the head in a backpack. Picture: Daily News
DURBAN - CONVICTED and serving a life sentence in Westville Prison for beheading a man and trying to sell the head, a man testified before the Durban High Court on Wednesday against his friend for the same murder.
Philani Jojisa pleaded guilty in October 2019, and was convicted of decapitating Thembinkosi Nzimakwe, 34. He told the court that he and his friend, Lehlohonolo Swartbooi, did so because they were in financial trouble.
He told the court he had been going to sell Nzimakwe’s head to a traditional healer when he was found with it.
“I borrowed money from loan sharks and owed about R6 000. Although I was trying to pay, I was failing. I then came up with a strategy to generate cash.”
He said they had asked a traditional healer what they could get for a human head and when they learnt it was R20 000, they decided to get one, sell it and split the money.
While discussing the idea in a tavern, Nzimakwe, who they knew, walked in and joined them.
They finished a bottle of vodka and asked the tavern owner for a bottle of whisky on credit, which they drank.
“Nzimakwe passed out at the tavern. That is when Swaartbooi and I decided to cut off his head and sell it.”
Jojisa then left the tavern and went to fetch a knife, backpack and a plastic bag.
He said Swartbooi had stashed the head in a backpack under the bridge. The next morning, Jojisa boarded a taxi and went to meet the traditional healer, where police arrested him.
Swartbooi was arrested as an accomplice a few days later and pleaded not guilty. Under cross-examination, Swartbooi’s lawyer Zeera Fareed said that when Jojisa pleaded guilty, he told the court that he alone had the financial problems, and not both of them.
She said Swaartbooi would not dispute that on the day of the incident the three of them drank, and that Nzimakwe became too drunk to walk home.
“He will say he suggested Nzimakwe sleep over at your place, but you refused because your girlfriend was there to spend the night,” she said to Jojisa.
“He will say that he assisted you to take Nzimakwe home and he will say that you were the last person seen with Nzimakwe. Swartbooi will say that he knew nothing about the plan to sell a human head to a traditional healer.”
The trial continues.
sne.masuku@inl.co.za
Daily News
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