Xolani Sicamba admitted raping and murdering Sinesipho Ncwadi in Dunoon on New Year’s Eve in 2024.
Sandiso Phaliso
- Sicamba fled Dunoon and was arrested in Barrydale three weeks later.
- He will be placed on the National Register for Sex Offenders.
- Ncwadi’s family must be contacted when Sicamba is considered for parole.
A Cape Town Spurs soccer coach has been handed a life sentence for the murder and rape of a Dunoon resident Sinesipho Ncwadi on New Year’s Eve 2024.
The court ordered Nyanga coach Xolani Sicamba also be entered in the National Register of Sex Offenders.
Sicamba had admitted to his crimes before he was sentenced at the Cape Town Regional Court on 31 August.
Ncwadi’s naked body was found dead in Sicamba’s shack in Dunoon, resulting in a search for Sicamba who had gone on the run. He was arrested three weeks later and has remained in custody since.
It emerged during sentencing that Sicamba has previous convictions of non-violent nature committed more than 13 years ago.
Through his legal representative, Sicamba admitted that on 31 December 2024 at about 11pm he was in Dunoon and met Ncwadi, 25, on his from a tavern.
They then went to the house where he was staying, where they socialized and listened to music.
While socializing with Ncwadi he got angry and assaulted her when she wanted more liquor.
During the attack he undressed her and he admitted he forcefully penetrated her. He became aware that Ncwadi was unresponsive and tried to wake her up.
His legal representative, Ashraf Booley, reading from the plea bargain agreement said: “Violence against women and children is rife, not only in this court’s area of jurisdiction, but all over the country and can be described as an epidemic.
“The offence involved excessive force, cruelty and violence against a person who posed little or no threat to the accused. The accused not only violated the complainant’s privacy when he raped her, but also took her life.
“These types of offences are of grave concern to the community, who expect the courts to send a clear message that violence against vulnerable people in society like women and children will be treated with particular seriousness and met with appropriate punishment,” said Booley.
Ncwadi’s uncle, Nkosibonke Felix Ntzulwana, was consulted and given the opportunity to make representations to the prosecutor regarding the sentencing.
He is satisfied with the terms of the agreement, including the sentence.
Community leader Nomvuzo Mukumela, founder of Nomvuzo Foundation, an organisation against the abuse of women and children, told Iliso Labantu they are satisfied with the sentence.
Makumela said crime in Dunoon is out of control and her organisation has always advocated against violence.
“We are happy with the sentence. Justice has been served. The sentence will show that crime does not pay and will be a deterrent against people who still want to commit crime.”
She said she hoped the sentence would be a warning to those who abuse women and children.
She said it was important that support should also be given to boys because they suffered trauma from their own families and then acted violently in communities.
“When we talk to perpetrators they tell us that they have also been victims of violence from their own families because they grew up in families where their own mothers were abused by their fathers and life continued as normal, and no one ever apologised or talked to them,” she said.
She said boys who grew up in violent and abusive households needed help so that they didn’t replicate that abuse against their own partners.