By Mbali Tanana and Luvuyo Mjekula
The Makhanda High Court heard for the first time since the arrest of Nomsa Seyisi on charges of trying to kill her cousin Zukiswa Frans and killing her partner Thembinkosi Wambi last year, how the alleged brutal killing took place from Frans who has lived to tell her story.
Seyisi, 46, is charged with murder, attempted murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances. According to the indictment, on 25 August 2023, she, acting in the furtherance of a common purpose or conspiracy, killed Thembinkosi Wambi, 41. Seyisi also allegedly attempted to kill Frans by shooting her. She is also accused of robbing Wambi of his Stylo cellphone. Seyisi was arrested a month after the incident, but her two alleged accomplices are reportedly still at large.
The state alleges that a month before the attacks, Seyisi had assisted in the arrangements for her work colleague to take out an insurance policy on the life of Frans, without her knowledge.
The trial began this week, and on day two of the proceedings, Frans, who cheated death after being grazed by bullets aimed to kill her, took the stand to relive the ordeal and unravel the sequence of events of the night when she and her partner were shot.
Frans recalled that she was at her family home when she received a phone call from Seyisi, the relative she considered to be her sister, considering Seyisi is her uncle’s daughter and they were brought up together.
Frans said she had no reason to be suspicious of the call as Seyisi had called to alert her of food parcels that were going to be distributed by the department of social development as part of their programme to support indigent families and Seyisi didn’t want her to miss out.
“Nomsa came in a car with two men and Thembinkosi and myself were told to enter the car, which we did. After a short drive she asked the driver to stop the car because she needed to urinate. However after she got out she told me to step out too and I told her I am fine, and that I did not need to relieve myself, so there was no need for me to step out,” she said.
Frans said it wasn’t long thereafter when Seyisi and the two men became aggressive and forcefully removed her and Thembinkosi from the vehicle they were travelling in. She recalled how the men took the firearms that had been visible to them from when they entered the car, and started to use them to force them out and onto the ground.
“We were manhandled out of the car and told to put our hands behind our heads and to lie face down on the ground. At this moment I was very confused, trying to make sense of what was happening and why she would be doing this, but we complied. At that moment, I felt myself losing my breath as a result of short breath and I just heard gunshots.”
As the state prosecutor Advocate Jan Engelbrecht, led Frans’ testimony, he enquired on whether or not she was aware of how many shots were fired, but Frans could not recall that specific detail.
“I just heard gunshots, I wasn’t keeping count of how many shots were fired but I heard them among their voices, because shortly after, one of the men asked Nomsa to check to see if either of us were still alive. Nomsa then put her foot on our backs to shake our bodies, I assume to assess if we were alive and in that moment I lay still out of breath, but later discovered that I was merely grazed by a bullet on my hand that was behind my head as I lay face down on the ground at the time.”
Frans said when she heard them get back into the car and drive off, she gathered her strength to shuffle her body out of the open veld where they lay – cautious of being seen, but also frantically trying to get to the nearest house to get help.
“I managed to drag myself to the nearest house and that’s where I told them what had happened and they were quick to call the police who later arrived with an ambulance. However, upon arrival at the hospital, Thembinkosi died and I was instantly rushed to a hospital in Gqeberha where they operated on my left hand to remove the bullet that had grazed my head, but remained stuck on my left hand. After that operation my hand has never been the same as it has lost all of its function,” she said.
Frans is due to remain on the stand today (Friday) as the trial continues.
