Durban – The man who raped and murdered Phindile Dlamini, who went missing on Christmas eve in 2020, was handed a life jail sentence by the Pietermaritzburg High Court last week.
KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda, said on April 12, 2023, that Thandanani Nzama, 30, was sentenced to life imprisonment and an additional 10 years behind bars after he was convicted for the murder and rape of Dlamini.
Netshiunda said 27-year-old Dlamini was last seen on Christmas eve in 2020.
“After failing to return home, her family duly reported her missing the following day at Alexandra Road police station.
“Three days later her decomposed body was recovered in the veld in France, Alexandra Road,” he said.
Netshiunda said post-mortem results confirmed that she was murdered.
He said a police investigation into the murder led to the arrest of Nzama.
“The accused made several appearances and police successfully opposed his bid for bail until the day of his sentencing,”said Netshiunda.
Following the third quarter crime stats released by Police Minister Bheki Cele in February, The Mercury reported that in KZN as a whole, all major crime categories saw increases, with murder up by 8.3%, rape up by 13.3% and hijackings 19.8%. House robberies increased by 18.5% and business robberies went up marginally by 1.1%.
Gareth Newham, head of the justice and violence prevention programme at the Institute for Security Studies, said the murder rate per 100 000 people had increased by 68% in the past decade.
“This is driven mostly by increases in organised criminality and the inability of the police to use their resources strategically and effectively to identify and dismantle these networks.”
Newham added that the fact that most violent crimes continued to increase showed that what was currently being done was not working.
“There is a serious need for police reform to address corruption and make better use of their vast resources. These trends started over a decade ago, and it is worrying that there has been no notable change in the policing approach to address it.”