Extradition proceedings against Ndodana Mkhanyisi Tshuma, the British-Zimbabwean man wanted in the United Kingdom over the killing of his wife and their two daughters, have been postponed to September after a brief appearance at the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on Thursday.

The extradition matter was remanded to 8 September, and a separate case in which Tshuma faces charges of unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition to 10 September, to give his defence more time to consult him.

South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority says its paperwork is now complete. “The state has received all the required documentation from the UK authorities in support of the extradition proceedings,” NPA spokesperson Magaboke Mohlatlole said in remarks reported by TimesLIVE. “The ballistic report relating to the firearm and ammunition has been finalised. The state has furnished the defence with all relevant documentation.”

Tshuma is wanted in Britain in connection with the deaths of his wife, Nothabo Zandile Tshuma, and their two daughters, Natalie and Nala, in July. He was arrested in Johannesburg later that month by South African police acting on a warrant issued in Britain, and had a firearm in his possession at the time of the arrest.

The broadcaster eNCA reported that Tshuma has abandoned his bail application in the firearm case. He remains in custody.

The two matters are running on separate tracks. The firearm and ammunition charges are South African offences that fall to be dealt with locally, while the murder allegations would only be tried in the United Kingdom if and when a South African court grants the extradition request. No date has been set for a ruling on extradition.

Sources: TimesLIVE; eNCA (via NewZimbabwe.com); South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority

Zimbabwean nationals displaced by anti-migrant operations in South Africa’s Limpopo province are still camped outside Mankweng Police Station near Polokwane, appealing to their own government to pay for transport to bring them and their possessions home.

The public broadcaster SABC, which visited the site on 26 August, reported that goods and luggage belonging to Zimbabweans repatriated in July remain stranded there alongside people still waiting to leave. Herbert Masimba, one of those waiting, told SABC the group wanted Harare to contract hauliers directly.

“What we want the Zimbabwean government to do for us is to look for truckers who are willing to take these goods from here to Zimbabwe,” Masimba said. “Once they drop off these goods, the government should pay them and give them a binding contract stating that they will be paid once they have completed the work.” He said the group was compiling a list of people who wanted to be repatriated, and that buses had been promised.

The Bulawayo-based outlet CITE reported that trucks loaded with the goods remain parked at the police station while drivers wait on payment from the Zimbabwean government to cover fuel, tolls and other costs of the journey north. It said those affected had been displaced from areas including Lebowakgomo and Seshego.

Zimbabwe Community in South Africa chairperson Ngqabutho Nicholas Mabhena told CITE he had alerted the Zimbabwean Consulate in Johannesburg after seeing reports from Mankweng. “I alerted them to what I had seen. I am sure they are attending to that,” he said. He added that a similar appeal on behalf of about 300 Zimbabweans stranded in Bloemfontein had previously prompted the consulate to send buses.

Mabhena said his organisation wants South Africa to pause deportations so that people can arrange to move possessions accumulated over years of work, rather than being sent home with little more than the clothes they are wearing. Where immediate repatriation is not possible, he said, displaced Zimbabweans should be allowed to return temporarily to the South African communities they were driven out of.

Sources: SABC News; CITE; NewZimbabwe.com

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has told Parliament that the people who organised and carried out violence against African migrants will be arrested and charged — a commitment that matters directly to the large Zimbabwean community living and working in South Africa.

Answering oral questions from MPs on Tuesday, Ramaphosa said police and other security agencies were gathering reports and evidence on the instigators. “There will be arrests, and there will be charges preferred against those who have done so,” he said. He added that a number of people had already been arrested, and that individuals seen to be leading the anti-migrant campaigns were of direct interest to investigators.

Ramaphosa said cases in which violence had caused injury or death would also be pursued, and that it was for the police and the prosecuting authority to ensure “anyone engaging in criminality is brought to book”.

The commitment came under pressure from EFF leader Julius Malema, who accused the state of inaction. “The level of violence perpetrated against African foreign nationals in this country over the past few months has a face,” Malema said, arguing that attacks had been carried out in the presence of police without arrests, which created the impression that the violence was state-sanctioned. He said two people he linked to the anti-migrant campaigns had previously met the president, telling Ramaphosa: “You should have locked them up that day when they came to meet you.”

Ramaphosa rejected any suggestion that the state endorsed discrimination, saying the government had “firmly and publicly rejected xenophobia, afrophobia, vigilantism and all forms of discrimination against people from other countries”, and that South Africa remained an active participant in continental and regional bodies.

No timeline was given for the arrests, and neither the president nor the police have said how many cases are under investigation.

Sources: IOL; Sowetan / TimesLIVE.