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The man, Ndodana Ncube (38), also stabbed his aunt with a pair of scissors and left her for dead.
He allegedly committed the killings and the rapes because of a dispute over R100.
One of his relatives, Mr Musa Tshalibe (59), said Ncube burnt six huts at his father’s homestead because he claimed his father owed him a blanket that he left in 2002.
“Ndodana has been working in South Africa most of his life. However, he has nothing to show for the years he has been in the neighbouring country. In 2002, he had no money to go back to South Africa, so his father gave him some money. He then gave his father a two in one blanket to thank him,” said Mr Tshalibe.
He said when Ncube returned to the country in March this year, he claimed that his father had promised to give him a goat in return for the blanket.
“He demanded 10 goats saying since it had been 10 years, the goat should have had at least 10 kids. Unfortunately, his father was not around to speak to him because he is getting treatment for a mental problem,” said Mr Tshalibe.
He said Ncube had always been threatening to take unspecified action that would “shock” everyone, over the issue.
“The boy has always been envious of other people’s achievements but never seemed prepared to work and realise his own. He is always quick to blame other people for his failures. I think the main reason he burnt his father’s homestead was that his siblings had bought a lot of property in South Africa that they were keeping in the huts,” said Mr Tshalibe.
Other relatives said Ncube once tried to kill his aunt, Ms Rebbeca Ndlovu, with an axe but failed.
“The matter was reported to the police but they said they could not arrest him because he had not committed the crime,” said one of his aunts.
Neighbours described Ncube as a vindictive bully who had no friends.
“He uses his towering height to intimidate people. It was dangerous to make an agreement with him because he always came up with a different version of the agreement and caused trouble. We knew him as isigebengu seGoli and generally, we kept out of his way,” said a neighbour.
Ncube allegedly axed his uncle’s children, aged three, five and eight, raped their mother and her neighbour, because of a misunderstanding with his uncle over R100 that he had been promised to load and off load gold ore at the stamp mill.
Acting police spokesperson for Matabeleland South province Sergeant Loveness Mangena said Ncube demanded more than R5 000 for the task during the course of the job.Relatives said Ncube left his uncle at Maphisa where the mill was being repaired and went to his homestead to commit the crimes.
“Even as a little boy, he loved to torture animals and seemed to enjoy it when he inflicted pain on others,” said an aunt.
Another aunt, Mrs Mavis Ngwenya, said on the day Ncube committed the crime, he had a thick rope that he said he would use to hang himself when he finished killing everyone who had wronged him.
A policeman who was stunned by the brutal nature of the crime called Ncube “the son of Satan” while his grandfather called him “Lucifer himself”.
Ncube was arrested for the crimes on Tuesday after villagers tracked him down and found him asleep on a nearby hill. He reportedly had the bloody axe and the rope by his side.Ncube is facing murder, attempted murder, robbery, rape and malicious damage to property charges.
Online Reporter