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REFEREE CONFESSES TO WIFE’S MURDER

By BONGIWE DLAMINI | 2023-01-20

A loud sound of a breaking padlock was what made referee Lucky ‘Makalakalane’ Ndlangamandla snap out of his fit of anger, which resulted in him allegedly stabbing his wife multiple times.

Sources close to the matter said other tenants were drawn to Ndlangamandla’s flat by disturbing screams of his wife when she was allegedly being attacked by her spouse.
Yesterday, he was at the Manzini Magistrate’s Court where he made a scheduled confession.
The incident happened at around 5am on Wednesday at Logoba area.

This was after the wife spent the night alone in the pint-sized referee’s flat as he was not there when she arrived unannounced.

Upon his return, Ndlangamandla is said to have apologised for not being present when she visited him, and he cited that she was used to him spending some nights out on drinking sprees.

The couple is said to have engaged in a decent conversation so much that Ndlangamandla even requested his conjugal rights, which he was unfortunately denied.
This did not sit well with the referee, who allegedly complained to his wife about other issues concerning their marriage.

According to sources, he also stated that he had noticed that he and his wife had become distant.

He, according to sources, also recalled an incident that happened in December last year, when they had visited the wife’s parental homestead in the Shiselweni Region.
Ndlangamandla is alleged to have stated that he was forced to find alternative accommodation after he was told that there was not enough space for him and his wife.

Argument
He is said to have spent the night in a room at a business he owns with the spouse before he returned to Matsapha the next day.

Also, he reportedly wondered why his wife had accepted the car he had bought for her sometime last year if she had lost interest in him.

According to sources, Ndlangamandla stated that the conversation escalated to an argument, where the wife allegedly stated that she regretted accepting to be lobolaed (traditionally wed) by Ndlangamandla as they were clearly becoming estranged.

It was at this juncture that the wife allegedly mentioned something to the effect that she wished that Ndlangamandla’s cattle would be given back to him.

“He manhandled her and in a fit of anger, he allegedly stabbed her multiple times. It was only after a loud sound of the padlock breaking that he snapped out of the trance-like moment and realised that he had injured his wife,” alleged a source.

The sound, it was said, was made by other tenants who were trying to gain entry into the house in an effort to assist the wife.
After becoming somewhat aware of what he had done, Ndlangamandla is said to have opened the door and stepped out of the house with the bloodied knife and clothes.

Ran
To his surprise, the people who were outside are said to have ran helter-skelter and hid from him.
It was then that he realised that he was drenched in blood, so he went back into the house and changed his clothes.

Before leaving the house, sources said he asked those he later found within the compound to watch over his wife while he went to the Matsapha Police Station.
He then ran from Logoba to the police station, where he reported the incident.

Since he had not taken a bath after changing clothes, Ndlangamandla’s T-shirt is said to have been blood-stained when he got to the police station, which shocked the police. The police then went to the crime scene and found the wife lying in a pool of blood and Ndlangamandla was later arrested and charged.

He is expected to make his first court appearance for a remand hearing today.

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