A 33-year-old man has been jailed for 25 years after he shot and killed his wife in a jealous rage, convinced she was to blame for their struggles to have children.
Njabulo Zuma was sentenced in the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg on Monday for the murder of his 35-year-old wife, Nobuhle Langa, in Alexandra on 26 March 2023. He also received 10 years for trying to kill her sister, whom he shot several times – one bullet permanently blinding her in one eye.
Zuma fled to Msinga in KwaZulu-Natal after the killings but was tracked down and arrested by Sergeant Sello Malahlela and his team from Alexandra police. Once in custody, he confessed everything to Colonel Moselankwe. He told officers he had been drinking at a tavern, came home angry, and shot his wife during a fight because he suspected she was cheating. He also admitted shooting his sister-in-law, claiming he blamed her for the couple’s miscarriages and fertility problems.
In court, Zuma pleaded guilty to both charges after prosecutor Advocate William Makwela presented strong evidence against him. The state pushed hard for a tough sentence, reminding the court that gender-based violence and femicide are a national crisis in South Africa.
The judge agreed the crime was horrific and deserved life imprisonment, but took into account Zuma’s guilty plea, his cooperation with police, and the fact that he is still relatively young. Those factors were enough to reduce the sentence from life to 25 years.
The National Prosecuting Authority says cases like this show how seriously they treat violence against women. “The life of every person matters,” they said, adding that strong prosecutions are the only way to protect victims and stop others from committing the same crimes.