'Wrap up this case, so that we can find closure'

The children of the murdered Ms Ester Simethi say they will never find closure as long as the case drags on. Simethi (47), a nurse from Haraliphaswa in Nzhelele, met her untimely death when four men shot her at point-blank range. The hit-style murder took place in the evening of 1 January 2018 while she was relaxing after work.

A few days after the killing, one of the alleged hitmen, Tsundzuka Hlengani, was arrested in Johannesburg, as was the woman's husband, Walter Simethi. This gave hope to the children that they would get to know why their mother was killed in order to find closure, but that was not to be.

The two were later granted bail of R5,000 each, and the case has been dragging on for years with one postponement after another.

The eldest daughter, Ms Khumbudzo Mbedzi, said they had waited far too long for the case to be finalised. “This incident has badly affected us as children. My younger sister, who was in the house and was only 16, suffered from severe trauma and had to see a psychologist. My younger brother fell into depression. I was also deeply depressed and only kept myself alive because I am the firstborn and my siblings needed me. It really affected us badly psychologically and emotionally because we were so close to our mom,” she said.

She said that they had had to move out of their home to stay with relatives. “Imagine having to share a space with other people; it is not easy, especially when you had your own space at home. Life really changed drastically for us, but we kept pushing. Thank God my siblings managed to finish school and got their degrees. The biggest problem now is that our mom’s killers are still out there and enjoying life. The court is really failing us, and we need closure in order to completely heal and move on with our lives,” Mbedzi said.

She added that they were fed up with the never-ending postponements: “It is one story after the other, and I can see these are just delaying tactics. I strongly believe my mother was killed for her pension, and her money is being used to buy time in this case. Almost six years after the incident, we are still waiting. Something is definitely going on in that court. Please wrap up this case quickly, so that we can get closure and heal,” she said.

The duo's most recent appearance was on 27 March and the case was postponed to 14 June for trial. Their bail was extended.

Date:11 April 2024

By: Elmon Tshikhudo

Elmon Tshikhudo started off as a photographer. He developed an interest in writing and started submitting articles to local as well as national publications. He became part of the Limpopo Mirror family in 2005 and was a permanent part of the news team until 2019.

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