News24.com | 'I don't think I will ever be okay', says mother of murdered sisters

Samaria Mazibuko holding pictures of her slain daughters.

• Rassie Hlabirwa Nkune confessed to killing Pretty Mazibuko and her sister, Marcia Mazibuko.
• Two relatives recounted how the deaths of their two loved ones was hurting them.
• In a separate matter, Nkune was an accused in the killing of Hillary Gardee. The charges were provisionally withdrawn.

"I feel hatred for him."

These words are part of a victim impact report prepared by the mother of two women killed by a man who was also an accused in the murder trial of Hillary Gardee.

Samaria Mazibuko and her granddaughter, Nomonde Khumalo, poured out their bleeding hearts to the Mbombela High Court in their statement, which was read by the State's advocate Zwelethu Mata.

The reports were heard before the sentencing of Rassie Hlabirwa Nkune, 36, who was convicted of the premeditated murders of Pretty Mazibuko, 46, and her sister, Marcia Mazibuko, 41.

Nkune, initially identified as Nkuna, according to police reports, claimed Pretty was in a love relationship with him.

READ | 'They were killed for nothing' - grief-stricken mom of slain Mazibuko sisters

Mazibuko said her two daughters were exceptionally special to her, especially since she grew up without her parents.

Pretty would unexpectedly cook for her on Valentine's Day and buy her flowers, while Marcia, who was a sergeant in the police, bought her groceries.

"I'm not okay to this day.

"When I sleep, I often feel I will see the person who killed my daughters coming for me.

"I don't think I will ever be okay," Mazibuko said.

She added that, since their murders, she can't get herself to drive, and she is on stress medication.

Mazibuko said her daughters had left behind two children, who she was now raising.

"Two of my grandchildren are attending school. I pay for their monthly transport and school fees," she said.

READ | The Hillary Gardee murder-accused trio mull 'legal options' against cops after charges are withdrawn

Pretty's daughter, Nomonde, said her mother was a single parent who dearly loved her and her younger brother.

"My mother worked hard for us, ensuring we had everything."

She said that, after hearing her mother had been shot, she prayed that she would pull through.

"I even wished the bullet had crippled her. That is how much I wanted her to be alive because she was the only parent I knew."

Nomonde said identifying her mother's body at the mortuary was the hardest thing she ever had to do. 

"I had to do it. Seeing her [body] lying there broke me.

"No words will ever describe how hurt I was. It still hurts today," Nomonde said. 

She said she was angry at her mother's cruel death.

"I had a perfectly healthy mother who was taken away from us."

READ | Hillary Gardee murder: Alleged killer fears for his life if imprisoned in Mpumalanga

Mata wants the court to sentence Nkune to two life terms.

Judge Takalani Ratshibvumo convicted Nkune after he pleaded guilty to killing the Mazibuko sisters at Kanyamazane on 15 May 2022.

Nkune is also facing another murder charge related to the killing of Nonkululeko Crystal Nkosi on 6 August 2022.

Using social media, he allegedly lured Nkosi, of Witbank, to Sundra, where he threatened her with a firearm, strangled her, and threw her in a ditch before fleeing with her Mercedes Benz vehicle, which was later found abandoned.

Nkosi succumbed to her injuries the following day in hospital, but had pointed out Nkune as her attacker.

Last month, charges against Nkune, Sipho Lawrence Mkhatshwa, Albert Mduduzi Gama and Philemon Lukhele were provisionally withdrawn after the State said it could not locate its key witnesses.

The men were arrested for allegedly kidnapping and killing Gardee.