The murder trial of Livhuwani Madadzhe, popularly known as SABC Livhu, has been postponed to 7 April because of a two-week court recess. He appeared last week for the Thohoyandou High Court sitting in Waterval.
On Thursday, 27 March, a retired SAPS officer, Lt-Col Tshifularo Avhatakali, testified that Madadzhe had arrived at the Thohoyandou Police Station in the early hours of Saturday, 28 January 2023, to report his wife as missing.
Lt-Col Avhatakali said he had advised Madadzhe to search for her first before opening a case. Eventually, a missing person's report was officially filed, and Madadzhe, who was accompanied by two women, left the police station.
Later, at around 05:00, Madadzhe contacted the colonel again, stating that his wife had been found in a pit at their home in Mangondi. Upon arriving at the scene with a photographer, Avhatakali confirmed the presence of the deceased in the pit. One of her flip-flops was found inside the pit, while the other was located nearby, behind a heap of soil.
Avhatakali further testified that the son of a well-known gospel singer had been called to the scene to assist in viewing the security camera footage from Madadzhe's house. However, the footage mysteriously cut off halfway. Before it stopped playing, it showed the deceased walking through the passage wearing different clothes from those she was found in at the scene. The colonel also expressed confusion about the presence of water in the pit as no rainfall had been recorded at the time of the incident. He is expected to continue his testimony after the court recess.
On Tuesday, 25 March, Judge Thogomelani Tshidada visited Madadzhe's home in Mangondi to inspect the crime scene.
The trial initially focused on an assault case that had been opened by Madadzhe's wife, Lindelani Nengovhela, before her death. In her sworn statement, Lindelani recounted an incident in which Madadzhe allegedly strangled her and used a knife to scratch her neck after she questioned him about her missing phone. She stated that this was not the first time he had assaulted her and that he had repeatedly threatened to kill her.
Madadzhe was arrested in January 2023 after his wife's death. The couple had been in a troubled relationship, with reports of domestic abuse surfacing before Lindelani's death.
Investigators believe Lindelani was murdered before being placed in the pit, with inconsistencies at the crime scene raising further suspicions.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, 25 March, Madadzhe appeared in the Thohoyandou Magistrate's Court on separate charges of fraud and car theft. This case has been postponed to 15 May to allow further investigations. He was granted bail of R5,000 under strict conditions and was warned that failure to attend court proceedings would lead to his arrest and the forfeiture of his bail money.