Victims’ families relieved as bail ruling in forest shooting case postponed

The families of two men allegedly shot dead by Ngqeleni traditional leader Nkosi Totosi Nyangiwe Ndamase say they can now bury their loved ones in peace after a magistrate postponed a bail ruling that had been expected on Friday.

Ndamase, 76, will remain behind bars until June 17 after the Ngqeleni magistrate’s court postponed judgment on his bail application due to an emergency involving the presiding magistrate, Phumla Kaziwa, at her court in Qumbu.

While the delay was unrelated to the funerals, relatives of the victims and members of the Bhantini community said it came as a relief ahead of burial services scheduled for the weekend.

Ndamase is accused of opening fire on a group of young men collecting firewood on disputed forest land between the Godini and Bhantini administrative areas on May 14. Two men, Simphiwe Mphothulwana, 29, and Siyasanga Zukhanye Ngwabavu, 22, died, while a third was injured.

Ndamase faces two counts of murder, attempted murder, malicious damage to property and unlawful possession of a firearm.

The disputed land has been the subject of a court battle between the two communities since 2014, after the matter was first lodged in 2009.

Bhantini headman Nkosi Jongikhaya Sinde said the postponement spared the families further trauma.

“Can you imagine how the families would have felt if Nkosi Ndamase had been released on bail on the eve of the funerals?” he asked.

“Whatever caused the delay, we see it as God’s grace. We had prepared ourselves for any outcome because only the magistrate can decide. But it would have been awkward and painful if he had been released just before the burials of his alleged victims.”

Mphothulwana’s sister, Thandiswa, said the family welcomed the postponement.

She added that celebrations by Ndamase’s supporters, had he been released, would have deepened the family’s pain.

The families also noted that the ruling will now be delivered after all funeral and traditional mourning rituals have been completed.

Resident magistrate Mthuthuzeli Mnge informed those gathered in court that Kaziwa was unable to attend because of an emergency in Qumbu.

“The bail judgment was supposed to be delivered today, but there was an emergency that held her up at her court in Qumbu,” Mnge said.

He said Kaziwa had initially proposed June 12 for the judgment, but defence attorney Mpumelelo Notununu was unavailable. Both the defence and the state subsequently agreed on June 17.

Ndamase’s son, Prince Manelisi Ndamase, who has been acting on behalf of the family, said he understood why the victims’ relatives were relieved by the postponement.

“Putting myself in the shoes of the bereaved families, the postponement is probably a good thing,” he said.

“If my father had been granted bail on the eve of the funerals, it could have been seen as insensitive and would have added to the pain they are already experiencing.”

However, he said the family still hoped the elderly headman would eventually be released on bail.

Both Sinde and Manelisi stressed that tensions between the two communities had not escalated despite the case.

“We are talking to each other. Even those who are protesting and calling for no bail are not our enemies,” Manelisi said.

“We greet each other, hug each other and allow the justice process to take its course.”

The two leaders said some residents from Godini would attend the victims’ funerals because the communities are closely linked through family ties and intermarriage.

The case has also drawn renewed attention because the National Prosecuting Authority is seeking to reinstate two withdrawn 2023 cases involving Ndamase.

In one matter, he allegedly fired shots at men collecting firewood in the same disputed forest. In another, he allegedly kidnapped two elderly women, aged 80 and 85, at gunpoint after finding them on the land.

Those cases were provisionally withdrawn but are now being reconsidered.

If convicted on the current charges, Ndamase could face life imprisonment.

Daily Dispatch