In a chilling confession, Songezo Mashiya Vuma, one of the six men accused of the Lusikisiki massacre, has revealed the gruesome details of the killings.
He told the court how they rounded up the victims, mostly women, from different rooms and passages and shot them in a calculated and ruthless attack.
They proceeded to other houses and mowed more people down.
Eighteen people — 15 women, a 13-year-old boy, and two men — were shot dead when gunmen attacked the neighbouring homesteads of sisters Mary Sinqina and Nancy Sinqina-Mhatu at Ngobozana village in Lusikisiki on September 28 2024.
Vuma alleged they were instructed by Mzukisi Ndamase to kill all the people at the Sinqina and Mhatu homesteads.
He said the motive was because Ndamase’s brother was shot and wounded at Ngobozana on September 27 2024.
“Mzukisi said the Sinqina family was involved in the attack. Mzukisi said the revenge attack was triggered by the death of Nomnikelelo Makhosi Sinqina. He said the Sinqinas were accusing the Ndamase family of her killing, and were avenging it.
“He accused the Sinqina family of being responsible and working with the Gqubeni Boys,” Vuma said.
The Ndamases and the Sinqinas are next-door neighbours.
Six men — Ndamase, 46, Aphiwe Ndende, 25, Siphosoxolo Myekethe, 45, Bonga “Rico” Hintsa, 31, Vuma, 21, and Mawethu Nomdlembu, 36 — face a total of 29 charges, including 19 counts of murder. All have pleaded not guilty.
The 19th murder charge relates to the killing of an ANC Alfred Nzo regional leader, Mncedisi Gijana, in KwaBhaca on August 19 2024.
Vuma said he, Ndende, Myekethe and Hintsa were each armed with AK-47 rifles.
Former accused, Lwando Abi, who has since turned state witness, drove the men around Lusikisiki looking for the Gqubeni Boys, but could not find them.
“We then drove to Ngobozana. Abi dropped us off at the first homestead and went to park in the distance while he remained.”
The first homestead they went to attack was that of Nancy-Sinqina-Mhatu, 59, where they spared no life, also killing her daughters, Anita Dimpo Mhatu, 30, and Athini Mhatu, 25, as well as her 13-year-old grandson Thabiso Mhatu.
“Siphosoxolo stood guard at the main gate and three of us, myself, Aphiwe and Bonga got inside. Each of the four of us was armed with an AK-47. I kicked open a door but found nobody.
“A young girl came from another building, and we instructed her to knock on the house where there were people. An old lady opened, and we shot her and all the people inside the house. We shot four people,” Vuma said.
They then went to the homestead of Mary Sinqina, 63, up the street, where they shot dead a total of 14 people — 12 women and two men — who were in three different houses.
“We pushed open a door and found people in the passage and in other rooms. We collected them all and pushed them into one room, where we killed them all.
“We went to another house in the same homestead. We found a lady, and we shot her dead,” Vuma said.
They proceeded to the third building in the same Sinqina homestead. They found a man.
“We instructed him to go and knock on the other building, where there were other people. We shot all them, including the man whom we instructed to knock,” he said.
They then went to another Sinqina homestead but found the gates locked.
Vuma’s attorney, Velile Magcotyelwa, said many things Vuma told the police officer who took his statement were not captured in the confession read into the record.
“My client was afraid of Ndamase. He was his boss and had warned him that if he were disobedient, he would kill him.
“Ndamase wanted all the Sinqina people to be killed because he believed it was they who attacked his home to try to avenge the murder of Makhosi Sinqina, whom they think was killed by the Ndamases.
“It was Ndamase who ordered the killing, and he forced my client to be involved in the killings,” Mgcotyelwa said.
After the bloodbath, they drove to Ntlezi village in Flagstaff to hide their firearms.
Vuma said only three men — Ndende, Hintsa and himself — were involved in Gijana’s killing.
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