An Eastern Cape school principal is in jail after he – and two others – were arrested this week for the alleged murder of his neighbour a fort-night ago.
Tsomo village school principal Siviwe Rulwa was arrested on Tuesday and appeared in the magistrate’s court a day later, when his formal bail application was postponed to June 6.
He remains in custody.
Rulwa, who is the principal at Tsojana Primary School, was arrested after the mutilated body of 46-year-old Zimasile Mangisa was found in an open field with bullet wounds to his head on May 11.
It is alleged that the principal and two other accused – his brother Oyama Rulwa, and Vusumzi Manila – shot and killed Mangisa two weeks ago.
Tsomo police spokeswoman Captain Namhla Mdleleni yesterday confirmed the arrests, saying Mangisa’s body was found with two bullets wounds to his head.
Mdleleni said after the body was discovered by villagers on the morning of May 11, a police task team was established to track down the alleged killers.
During the arrest of the three suspects this week, Mdleleni said, the task team recovered three firearms and 65 live rounds of ammunition in their possession.
She said the three men were aged between 34 and 40.
They appeared at the Tsomo Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday, where they were charged with murder and possession of unlicensed firearms and ammunition.
The case was postponed to next week for a formal bail application.
According to the family of Mangisa, his right leg was missing, his hands were covered with mud and his maimed body was found in an open space below a villager’s garden.
The family said they were only able to identify the deceased by a mark on his body, “as his face was unrecognisable”.
Speaking to the Daily Dispatch yesterday, the deceased man’s brother, Mnoneleli Mangisa, said it was believed that the principal had been having an affair with the deceased’s wife.
“They were sworn enemies because of the affair. As a family we spoke to the wife numerous times and begged her to end the affair but she just ignored us,” Mnoneleli said.
He said he last saw his late brother who worked in Johannesburg in April last year, before the incident two weeks ago.
“My brother lives in Johannesburg, so when a faceless body was recovered in the village I did not suspect it was him because he did not even mention that he was coming this side,” said the distraught brother.
Mnoneleli said it was around 5am on May 11 when men in the village were alerted to the discovery of a lifeless body nearby.
“I walked over there and saw this faceless body. It never occurred that this could be my brother,” he said.
“It was only after police found his identity book and cellphone in a vehicle that was abandoned a few metres from where the body was found, that I started to worry.
“I recognised the car as my brother’s but I didn’t want to believe it.
“I accepted that it was him after I recognised a birthmark on his body.”
Villagers who spoke to the Dispatch yesterday said they were shocked by the incident.
“Something like this has never happened here. The deceased’s face was completely unrecognisable, it was almost as if he was skinned.
“What is even scarier was the right leg that was cut off,” said one of the villagers, though he refused to identify himself.
The provincial department of education yesterday said they had opened their own internal investigation into the matter.
Department spokesman Malibongwe Mtima yesterday said the principal’s wife did inform them that he had been arrested but she did not give the department “much detail”. Mtima said they only learnt through an inquiry from the Dispatch yesterday that the principal had been arrested on a murder charge. — arethal@dispatch.co.za
Three held after ‘love affair’ hit
Tsomo village school principal Siviwe Rulwa was arrested on Tuesday and appeared in the magistrate’s court a day later, when his formal bail application was postponed to June 6.
He remains in custody.
Rulwa, who is the principal at Tsojana Primary School, was arrested after the mutilated body of 46-year-old Zimasile Mangisa was found in an open field with bullet wounds to his head on May 11.
It is alleged that the principal and two other accused – his brother Oyama Rulwa, and Vusumzi Manila – shot and killed Mangisa two weeks ago.
Tsomo police spokeswoman Captain Namhla Mdleleni yesterday confirmed the arrests, saying Mangisa’s body was found with two bullets wounds to his head.
Mdleleni said after the body was discovered by villagers on the morning of May 11, a police task team was established to track down the alleged killers.
During the arrest of the three suspects this week, Mdleleni said, the task team recovered three firearms and 65 live rounds of ammunition in their possession.
She said the three men were aged between 34 and 40.
They appeared at the Tsomo Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday, where they were charged with murder and possession of unlicensed firearms and ammunition.
The case was postponed to next week for a formal bail application.
According to the family of Mangisa, his right leg was missing, his hands were covered with mud and his maimed body was found in an open space below a villager’s garden.
The family said they were only able to identify the deceased by a mark on his body, “as his face was unrecognisable”.
Speaking to the Daily Dispatch yesterday, the deceased man’s brother, Mnoneleli Mangisa, said it was believed that the principal had been having an affair with the deceased’s wife.
“They were sworn enemies because of the affair. As a family we spoke to the wife numerous times and begged her to end the affair but she just ignored us,” Mnoneleli said.
He said he last saw his late brother who worked in Johannesburg in April last year, before the incident two weeks ago.
“My brother lives in Johannesburg, so when a faceless body was recovered in the village I did not suspect it was him because he did not even mention that he was coming this side,” said the distraught brother.
Mnoneleli said it was around 5am on May 11 when men in the village were alerted to the discovery of a lifeless body nearby.
“I walked over there and saw this faceless body. It never occurred that this could be my brother,” he said.
“It was only after police found his identity book and cellphone in a vehicle that was abandoned a few metres from where the body was found, that I started to worry.
“I recognised the car as my brother’s but I didn’t want to believe it.
“I accepted that it was him after I recognised a birthmark on his body.”
Villagers who spoke to the Dispatch yesterday said they were shocked by the incident.
“Something like this has never happened here. The deceased’s face was completely unrecognisable, it was almost as if he was skinned.
“What is even scarier was the right leg that was cut off,” said one of the villagers, though he refused to identify himself.
The provincial department of education yesterday said they had opened their own internal investigation into the matter.
Department spokesman Malibongwe Mtima yesterday said the principal’s wife did inform them that he had been arrested but she did not give the department “much detail”. Mtima said they only learnt through an inquiry from the Dispatch yesterday that the principal had been arrested on a murder charge. — arethal@dispatch.co.za
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