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Leonard Ncube Senior Court Reporter—
A LUPANE man who allegedly kidnapped two minor children from South Africa had an extra marital affair with their mother and fled with them after the woman’s husband discovered the relationship. Bongani Ncube, 37, of Malunku area in Lupane, brought three children, a girl aged 10 and two boys aged 12 and 15 in May 2011.
The 15-year-old boy, born of a different woman, reportedly fled back to the neighbouring country after the death of his mother.
Contrary to Ncube’s claims that he had an open relationship with Anna Ngobeni of Giyani in Limpopo and sired two children with her, it has emerged the two love birds were cheating on the woman’s husband Samuel Chauke, the father of the children.
While Ncube claimed he brought the children to Zimbabwe with the blessing of their mother, reports from the South Africa media indicate that the children had visited him at his Tembisa residence in Johannesburg and he fled with them after Chauke discovered the affair.
“She was leading a secret life behind her husband’s back. Anna Ngobeni has allegedly secretly been sending her two kids to visit her boyfriend, Bongani Ncube, for three days at a time in Tembisa, east of Johannesburg and they would then go back to her at Giyani in Limpopo,” the Daily Sun, a South African newspaper, reported.
Ngobeni reportedly confessed to her husband and asked Ncube to return the children, but he refused, it is alleged.
Ncube, who now resides in Bulawayo’s Cowdray Park suburb, claims he could not take them back to their mother because the Limpopo River was flooded and also because he had no money to transport them as they illegally crossed into Zimbabwe.
On Thursday, Ncube told Chronicle Chauke was Ngobeni’s ex-husband and he was only trying to fix him.
Ncube would buy the boy and girl, now in the custody of Social Welfare officers in Bulawayo, clothes each time they visited his Tembisa home.
Chauke discovered the illicit affair when Ngobeni sent the two minors together with her other son, Busani, 18, to her boyfriend so he could buy them clothes.
Ncube had other plans as he crossed to Zimbabwe with the minors.
Ncube claims his late father and younger sister, who is based in South Africa, knew about the children but his mother Joyce Dube on Thursday said she wanted the children gone because they were giving her sleepless nights as they always say they want to go to their parents.
While Ncube claims he was shown in a vision that the children were his before they were born, the boy accused him of forcing them to accept his surname.
Ncube allegedly started the affair with Ngobeni when they rented the same house in Tembisa, prompting Chauke to move his family to Vusimuzi section of Tembisa, but Ncube followed them.
The heartbroken Chauke reported the matter to the police in a bid to get his kids back.
He told Daily Sun: “I suspected my wife was having an affair in 2002 when we rented in the same yard as Bongani. Back then I decided to move my family to Vusimuzi Section in Tembisa, but he followed us. I then decided to take my wife and children back to Giyani, thinking that would end the affair.”
Chauke added: “I was shocked to discover it was still on and she took my kids to see Bongani without me knowing. I’m very sad and I want my kids back.”
The matter is now being handled by Interpol as efforts to locate the mother in South Africa intensify so she could come and clarify their identity.
The children had spent three years hidden at Ncube’s rural home in Malunku.
Police have said they could not arrest and detain Ncube, at least for now, since investigations are still ongoing although they suspect that this could be a case of human trafficking.
Online Reporter