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ZIWAPHI • VOL 3 NO 24 • 4 - 17 DECEMBER  2009

MBOMBELA

The trial against an Mpumalanga man who confessed to killing the deputy president of Swaziland’s People’s United Democratic Movement (Pudemo) party will start on Monday.

Former police reservist Dumisane Maduna (31) of KaNyamazane near Mbombela was arrested on October 29 last year in Nelspruit prison while in custody for an unrelated case.

“His trial will run for five days in the Nelspruit circuit of the Pretoria High Court,” said Mpumalanga police spokesperson Captain Leonard Hlathi.

Maduna was arrested on charges of murder and rape after Dr Gabriel Thandokuhle Mkhumane (48) was shot execution-style on April 2 last year. Mkhumane’s 18-year-old mistress was raped.

Maduna was tracked down when police traced the young woman’s cellphone, which had been stolen during the attack.

He was arrested at the Nelspruit prison where he was being held on charges of attempting to murder his mother-in-law.

Local publicist for Pudemo Siphasha Dlamini said the organisation was convinced that Mkhumane was assassinated and that the rape and robbery were an attempt to disguise the hit as a straightforward crime.

The spokesperson for the Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN), Lucky Lukhele, is also convinced that Mkhumane was killed as a political intervention.

Mkhumane was a Swazi revolutionary opposed to the current absolute monarchy headed by King Mswati III. He had been living in exile for 24 years since 1984, in Mozambique, Cuba and South Africa.

He was living in White River and worked as a paediatrician at Themba Hospital for eight years before he was killed.

Mkhumane and his mistress were chatting in his car, which was parked outside the girl’s parent’s house, when they were attacked at about 9:45pm.

According to the charge sheet, Mkhumane was forced into the boot of the car. The couple was driven to Entokozweni dam near KaNyamazane where the young woman was raped and robbed of her cellphone.

Mkhumane was then taken out of the boot and shot in the forehead and the side of his head.

The woman was forced back in the car and driven around for about four hours before they stopped at an ATM in KaNyamazane to withdraw money from Mkhumane’s bank account.

The woman took the chance to escape to a nearby house for help.

Mkhumane is survived by his Cuban wife, Soraida, and three children who are younger than eight.