Nyamande to apply for bail

Nkhumeleni David Nyamande, a 39-year-old suspect accused of killing a 38-year-old man by hitting him with a pickaxe at Matangari village in December last year, appeared in the Thohoyandou Magistrate’s Court facing murder charges on Monday (26^th).

When Nyamande stepped into the stand in court, he tried to hide his face by looking down and avoiding the photographers. State prosecutor Ms Mpho Mufamadi said the state was ready to proceed but then agreed to postpone the hearing it until 4 March for a bail application.

The victim, Prince Khumbudzo David Mulibana, was allegedly killed for refusing to provide the suspect with free sorghum beer. According to the Vhembe police’s acting communications manager, W/O Vuledzani Dathi, the deceased was at his homestead on Saturday, 9 December, selling sorghum beer when the suspect arrived.

“It is alleged that the suspect owed the deceased an amount of R28. A heated argument allegedly ensued between the two. The deceased allegedly took the suspect’s cellphone and told him he would return it after the suspect had settled the beer bill. The suspect allegedly left with a message that an EMS car and a pathologist would come to the deceased’s house that night,” said Dathi.

According to the police report, at about 21:00 that night, the suspect went to the deceased’s homestead, carrying a pickaxe, and started to provoke the deceased, demanding his cellphone. “A Zimbabwean national who was at the scene at the time tried to separate the two men, but he was stabbed in the chest with the pickaxe and fell down unconscious. The suspect proceeded to hit the deceased with the pickaxe. The deceased was certified dead at the scene, while the Zimbabwean victim was taken to the local medical facility for treatment,” said Dathi.

Date:01 March 2024

By: Victor Mukwevho

Victor Mukwevho Ne-vumbani joined the Mirror during it's inception in 1990. He joined the SABC newsroom in 1995, and was known by  listeners as "A u fhedzisela ari". He was a news editor for The Tembisan Newspaper from 2007 to 2015. He rejoined the Limpopo Mirror newspaper in June 2022 as a freelance journalist.

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