KZN MPL murder suspect seeks bail, claims prison food is inadequate

A family member of the slain Zibuse Mlaba, a prominent KwaZulu-Natal member of the legislature, has made a dramatic plea for bail in the Camperdown Magistrates Court, citing that the food is inadeqquate, claiming he only gets one piece of meat. 

On Friday in court, the murder-accused family member, Mzamo Duncan Patrick Mlaba, 63, claimed the food at Westville prison is "horrible". 

He is accused of orchestrating the hit on his cousin Zibuse and paying hitmen R130 000.

Zibuse was a chief in KwaXimba, Camperdown, and an ANC deputy chairperson in KZN. Zibuse was killed in October 2021 in Cato Ridge at Wareing’s Shopping Centre. 

While asking the court to grant him bail, he said the food that he receives at Westville prison does not go according to the diet that his medical practitioner prescribed. Before his arrest, Mzamo said he was diagnosed with diabetes and high blood pressure. 

He said he takes insulin for his diabetes, and his doctor put him on a certain diet. 

“My doctor told me the importance of the diet,” he emphasised. 

He complained about the food and stated that they are served meals only twice a day. He said by the time he takes his last injection, his stomach would be empty. He said they are mostly served porridge with two slices of bread. Their last meal is usually cabbage and samp. 

“When there is no cabbage, they make carrot stew. If I were to show the magistrate the food we eat, he would run away,” he explained. 

He said his wife is unable to bring him food all the time as she has to take care of things at home since he is not there. 

Moreover, Mzamo said that since his incarceration, he has been admitted to the prison hospital and was diagnosed with a heart problem. He said the nurses monitor him, they check his blood pressure and diabetes maybe once a week. 

“I have only seen the doctor twice since my incarceration,” he stated. 

Mzamo said the medication that he is given in prison is not the same as the one his doctor gave him. “You could see they are different,” he said. 

Moreover, he said the prison does not have the budget to buy the pills he used to get from his doctor. He said the prison medication is not adequate. 

Prior to his arrest, Mzamo stated that there was a letter drafted by advocate Jimmy Howse SC. He said this letter, sent to the police, stated that if they need him they should go through his lawyers. 

He claimed that KZN’s police commissioner, Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, Lieutenant Colonel Malcom Fynn from the National Political Killings Task team and another senior police official ignored the letter and arrested him. 

He said his wife and children were traumatised by the police. He said in 2024 members of the National Intervention Unit (NIU) came to his house and "turned it upside down". 

He said the NIU asked for his safe keys, and they checked his guns, including an AK-47. He said he has four licensed guns, which include rifles. He also admitted that he had three boxes of ammunition.

The NIU asked for the gun licences, and they compared the gun serial numbers to those on the licences. 

“They told me that they were looking for something, and if they found it, they would have killed me,” he said. 

Mzamo is also alleged to have bought the guns that killed his cousin from hitmen he hired. 

The bail application will continue next week. 

nomonde.zondi@inl.co.za