Why did policeman shoot my mother?

Ndifelani was killed five months after she was head-hunted to be a nanny

Five months ago Limpopo police officer Sergeant Nditsheni Vele called Sedzani Mudzhweda and asked for her mother's number as he and his wife would like to hire her as their child's nanny.

On Tuesday last week, the 50-year-old woman was shot dead by her employer in a tragic double killing for which the cop was arrested at the weekend.

On the day of the shooting, Ndifelani was on duty at work in Masisi village, about 85km from Thohoyandou, when Vele shot and killed her less than five months into her job.

Vele also shot his wife Humbulani Nenzhelele and fled in the dead of the night, leaving his toddler son in the house alone with the bodies of the two women.

The motive for the shooting is not yet known.

"Skeem, we want oulady", Mudzhweda, 30, recalls Vele saying the day he called to ask for her mother Ndifelani's number.

Mudzhweda remembers Vele as a friendly man who never used her name and rather called her Skeem.

She says she’s been unable to make sense of the tragedy because she knows Vele very well as he also asked Ndifelani to work for them after their previous nanny suddenly quit without explanation.

She says she does not understand how the officer would ask her mother to work for his family only to to take her life months later.

“It’s not like my mother asked for the job, they came for her,” a heartbroken Mudzhweda said.

Vele leaves behind five children, three of whom are still at school. She separated from her 74-year-old husband six years ago and was the children’s primary caregiver as the man now lives in another area.

When officers attempted to stop the vehicle, the suspect started firing multiple shots at them, prompting the police to respond swiftly.Brig Hlulani Mashaba

Mudzhweda, 30,  has now been thrust with the responsibility of caring for her younger siblings, the youngest of whom is nine years old.

Mudzhweda, who does not have children of her own, says she left her job in Pretoria two years ago and went back home to Venda to explore farming. She later fell ill. Since recuperating she has been job hunting but has had no luck.

She says she doesn’t know how she’ll be able to emotionally and financially care for her siblings.

“I won’t have time to heal; I’m now the breadwinner.”

Ndifelani was working in another part of Venda but had left the job to be near her children.

She started volunteering as a cleaner at a nearby emergency management services (EMS) office where the officer’s wife worked. As their nanny had suddenly quit, the wife suggested to her husband that they hire Ndifelani.

The husband knew Mudzhweda and he called her to ask for Ndifelani’s number.

After getting the job, Ndifelani told Mudzhweda that the couple had welcomed her with open arms, telling her to “feel at home”.

She also never gave any indication that the couple used to fight.

However, two months after hiring her, Vele allegedly complained to his wife that Ndifelani was brushing her teeth using the jug he makes his church tea in. Later, he also told the wife that Ndifelani was using his plate.

Not wanting to cause conflict, Mudzhweda said her mother indicated that she’d no longer sleep at the house and would go home whenever the wife knocked off. However, Vele later went to apologise to her mother, says Mudzhweda. She accepted the apology.

On the days she was off from work, Ndifelani kept volunteering at the EMS offices.

However, Vele allegedly went there one day and told Ndifelani that she must not return to work but did not say why.

Ndifelani called the wife who upon hearing the news decided that she wouldn’t be looking for another nanny, especially when she didn’t know why the first one left. She moved to her own house that she had before getting married and took Ndifelani with her.

While it is unknown whether the couple was still together even though the wife had moved out of the marital home, Ndifelani had told Mudzhweda that Vele never went to the house to bother the woman.

All that changed last week Tuesday when he suddenly showed up at the house and killed both women.

It’s not yet known if the child witnessed the murders.

“Rumours are that after he shot them, he called the police station and told his colleagues: ‘Go and get my child; I killed my wife.’

“When I arrived at the scene, the child was with the social workers,” said Mudzhweda.

She says she is tormented by not knowing why the man killed her mother and won’t get closure until she confronts him.

“I want to ask him, why did you do this to my mother?”

Vele, who had been on the run for days, has since been arrested after shooting and wounding a police officer who was part of a team that had traced him to his hideout.

Limpopo police spokesperson Brig Hlulani Mashaba said he was spotted driving at high speed.

“When officers attempted to stop the vehicle, the suspect started firing multiple shots at them, prompting the police to respond swiftly. The suspect was wounded in the exchange, and one police officer sustained minor injuries,” Mashaba said.

Vele face two counts of murder and one of attempted murder. He is currently in hospital under police guard.

His matter was heard at Masisi periodical court in absentia yesterday. It was postponed to December 10. 

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