Chilling details of Lusikisiki mass killing revealed

In a chilling confession, Songezo Mashiya Vuma, one of the six men accused of the Lusikisiki massacre, has revealed the gruesome details of the killings. He told the court how they rounded up the victims, mostly women, from different rooms and passages and shot them in a calculated and ruthless attack. They proceeded to other houses and mowed more people down.

Eighteen people — 15 women, a 13-year-old boy, and two men — were shot dead when gunmen attacked the neighbouring homesteads of sisters Mary Sinqina and Nancy Sinqina-Mhatu at Ngobozana village in Lusikisiki on September 28 2024. Vuma alleged they were instructed by Mzukisi Ndamase to kill all the people at the Sinqina and Mhatu homesteads. He said the motive was because Ndamase’s brother was shot and wounded at Ngobozana on September 27 2024.

“Mzukisi said the Sinqina family was involved in the attack. Mzukisi said the revenge attack was triggered by the death of Nomnikelelo Makhosi Sinqina. He said the Sinqinas were accusing the Ndamase family of her killing, and were avenging it.

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“He accused the Sinqina family of being responsible and working with the Gqubeni Boys,” Vuma said. The Ndamases and the Sinqinas are next-door neighbours. Six men — Ndamase, 46, Aphiwe Ndende, 25, Siphosoxolo Myekethe, 45, Bonga “Rico” Hintsa, 31, Vuma, 21, and Mawethu Nomdlembu, 36 — face a total of 29 charges, including 19 counts of murder.

All have pleaded not guilty. The 19th murder charge relates to the killing of an ANC Alfred Nzo regional leader, Mncedisi Gijana, in KwaBhaca on August 19 2024. Vuma said he, Ndende, Myekethe and Hintsa were each armed with AK-47 rifles.

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