Durban — The boyfriend of Mangosuthu University of Technology student Xolile Mbatha, charged with her murder, pleaded guilty in the Durban High Court on Wednesday.
Bongani Sanele Mlambo, 28, who in July allegedly stabbed Mbatha multiple times at the institution’s outsourced Ark Royal Residence in Mahatma Gandhi Road, handed himself over to the police on September 20.
Before Judge Sharmaine Balton in court, Mlambo pleaded guilty to the murder. However, after his plea was read out by his defence, SB Madondo, it was established that while there was a post-mortem certificate the report had not yet been filed.
“It’s necessary for the accused to have a look at the post-mortem report before his plea can be accepted. Even before the plea can be completed it's important that the accused is given the post-mortem report to look at because he is making admissions.”
Judge Balton then ordered that the matter be adjourned to a later date to allow the report to be filed and for Mlambo to see it before she could decide on accepting the plea.
Following Mbatha’s murder, Mlambo had fled Durban and gone to his homestead in Hluhluwe.
In August, police issued a warrant for his arrest with a picture attached in the hope of finding his whereabouts.
In a statement on Wednesday, MUT acting vice-chancellor and principal Professor Marcus Ramogale reacted to Mlambo appearing in court.
“I have always said that the wheels of justice grind slowly, but they grind just fine. While I do not doubt that justice will be served in this case, it is always a sad moment when our university loses one of its students – more so when it is in such a violent manner. We are calling on the justice system to use cases such as this one to send a strong message that there is no place for violence, gender-based violence and femicide in our society.”
He said violence was part of a deeper societal problem.
“If you look at the latest SAPS crime statistics, KZN has the second highest number of murders. What is even more chilling is learning from the same statistics that Umlazi township is the murder capital of South Africa.
“It is time for all of us to reclaim our spaces of residence and join forces with our law enforcement agencies to root out violence.
“As a university we took a stance on gender-based violence when the senate, our highest decision-making body, declared in 2018 that gender-based violence would not be tolerated at the university.
“We have quarterly programmes on gender-based violence and have beefed-up our security, but despite this, students like the accused still believe in violence as the solution,” said Professor Ramogale.
Mbatha had been an electrical engineering student.
Daily News