A 50-year-old man has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of his ex-girlfriend and his friend in the Mossel Bay Regional Court in the Western Cape.
Vusumzi Ntsondolo was convicted of the murder of his friend, Luvuyo Mgwevelana, 45, and former girlfriend, Nwabisa Baliso, 43.
Baliso was stabbed 16 times in front of her teenage daughter.
Ntsondolo pleaded guilty. In his plea explanation, he told the court that on the evening of November 7, 2025, he and Mgwevelana were drinking at a local tavern when Baliso arrived and called Mgwevelana outside. Ntsondolo attempted to follow them, but Baliso stopped him. Mgwevelana later returned and told Ntsondolo to leave Baliso alone, claiming that she was now his girlfriend. This resulted in an argument between the two men.
Ntsondolo subsequently left the tavern and went home.
Stabbing
On the morning of November 8, 2025, Mgwevelana arrived at Ntsondolo’s home after earlier sending him a voice note inviting him to the tavern. An altercation ensued. Ntsondolo grabbed a knife from a table and stabbed Mgwevelana once in the chest, leaving him lying inside the house.
Still armed with the knife, Ntsondolo then went looking for Baliso. He found her after asking her 16-year-old daughter to call her. When Baliso returned with her daughter, she noticed blood on Ntsondolo’s shirt and asked him about it.
Ntsondolo then repeatedly stabbed Baliso in the presence of her daughter, despite the teenager’s attempts to intervene.
He fled the scene while being pursued by community members and entered a colleague’s house, where he stabbed himself three times in the chest. After leaving the house, community members caught up with him and assaulted him. Ntsondolo subsequently fled towards the local police station, flagged down a police vehicle, and was taken to hospital. He was later arrested and charged with the two murders.
In aggravation of sentence, Prosecutor Makhi Cutshe argued that there were no substantial and compelling circumstances justifying a departure from the prescribed minimum sentence.
Deliberate intention to kill
Cutshe argued that Ntsondolo’s conduct was not simply an impulsive act committed in the heat of the moment. After killing Mgwevelana, he did not stop or reconsider his actions. Instead, he armed himself with the knife, pursued Baliso and murdered her.
The prosecution submitted that this sequential course of violence demonstrated a deliberate intention to kill both victims.
The State further argued that Baliso’s murder was a brutal manifestation of intimate-partner violence, male entitlement, and an inability to accept the end of a relationship.
The prosecution emphasised that former partners are not possessions and that romantic rejection can never justify violence.
Particularly aggravating was the fact that Ntsondolo murdered Baliso in the presence of her 16-year-old daughter, who attempted to save her mother. The State argued that the psychological trauma inflicted on a child who witnessed her mother’s brutal murder significantly increased Ntsondolo’s moral blameworthiness.
The court agreed with the prosecution’s submissions and sentenced Ntsondolo to 15 years’ direct imprisonment for the murder of Mgwevelana and life imprisonment for the murder of Baliso.
The sentences were ordered to run concurrently, resulting in an effective sentence of life imprisonment.
Western Cape Director of Public Prosecutions, Advocate Adrian Mopp, welcomed the sentence and commended the investigating and prosecution teams, as well as all role players who contributed to securing justice for the victims and their families.
“This sentence sends an unequivocal message that women are not the property of their partners or former partners. The end of a relationship, jealousy, or rejection can never justify violence. The NPA will continue to vigorously prosecute perpetrators of gender-based violence and femicide and advocate for sentences that reflect the seriousness of these crimes,” Mopp said.
