Sjambok case: cops whipped

Cops probing an ANCYL leader accused of fatally sjambokking his girlfriend have been berated for shoddy work.

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Johannesburg - The police investigating the case of a prominent Joburg ANC Youth League leader accused of sjambokking his girlfriend to death have been berated for shoddy detective work.

Magistrate Pieter du Plessis read the riot act to the police on Wednesday when

Patrick Wisani, the ANCYL chairman for Joburg Inner City, made his second appearance in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court.

 

Wisani has been charged with murder for allegedly beating his girlfriend, Nosipho Mandleleni, 24, to death with a sjambok and a broomstick.

Du Plessis criticised the lack of crucial information contained in the docket.

“Go read the docket. There’s no information on how it happened, where it happened,” he told prosecutor Richard Moshobane in front of a packed courtroom.

Moshobane called investigating officer Sergeant Nicholas Masimini to relay what happened on the night of the tragedy.

Masimini said that according to witness statements, Mandleleni’s twin sister, who shared the house with the couple, had gone to look for help after she heard her sister screaming.

“When she (Mandleleni’s sister) got back, there were police and paramedics, and she was told that her sister had passed away,” Masimini said.

Wisani, 30, had apparently phoned emergency services and was found still holding a broken broomstick in his hand when they arrived. The broomstick and a sjambok were taken as evidence.

Masimini didn’t know where Mandleleni’s twin had gone to look for help and how long it took before she returned to the house.

According to Wisani’s statement, he said he and Mandleleni had gone to bed after arguing and that he had phoned emergency services at 8am the following day.

Du Plessis instructed Masimini to return to court on Friday with more information about the murder.

“It certainly can’t take too long to find out from paramedics who called them, what time they called and what time they got there,” Du Plessis said.

During Masimini’s testimony, Wisani sat in the dock dressed in black, his arms crossed. Occasionally he shook his head and smiled.

It appears that this isn’t the first time Wisani has brutally assaulted a woman. Maurice Smithers, the former treasurer at the Yeoville Community Police Forum (CPF), told The Star that Wisani’s forum membership was suspended in 2012 after it emerged that he had savagely beaten a woman.

“It came to the CPF’s attention that Patrick had been observed beating up this woman and he had consequently been suspended from the CPF. We don’t know if a formal charge was ever laid. To our knowledge, she was in a coma and wasn’t able to open a case,” he said.

Smithers, who is now the national co-ordinator of Awethu! A People’s Platform for Social Justice, said he was concerned about the investigation.

“What I did pick up (in court) was very disturbing and that is that the investigating officer doesn’t seem to have done his work properly. It’s of great concern,” he said.

“It’s about whether justice is going to be served, whether the process is going to be credible.”

Members of Sonke Gender Justice and other organisations gathered outside the court. They held posters calling for justice against the perpetrators of gender-based violence. “No bad women. Just bad laws,” was the message on one.

Others read: “Gender-based violence costs the country R42 billion a year,” and “Gender justice”.

Wisani was due back in court on Friday.

gabi.falanga@inl.co.za

The Star