A 42-year-old Zimbabwean woman who killed her husband in South Africa confessed to the crime because according to her, his ghost was haunting her and giving her sleepless nights.
Nancy Majonhi, who faces a charge of murder, appeared at the Mogwase Magistrate’s Court for a bail application on Thursday, September 9. However, her case was postponed to 21 September.
The mother of two murdered her husband, Prosper Chipungare in 2015 in Ledig, near Rustenburg, Northwest. She then chopped up his body and threw the pieces in three pit toilets.
After dumping the body parts, she carefully cleaned up the crime scene and then went to the Sun City Police Station where she reported that her husband was missing and asked the police to help her search for him.
A missing person file was the opened. Although she asked the police, Majonhi did not wait to find out if he would be found. Instead she packed her bags and returned home to Zimbabwe.
Back in South Africa, the efforts of officers to locate Chipungare were unsuccessful and they ultimately closed the case.
In Zimbabwe, she told everyone that her 44-year-old husband had gone missing. However, in January 2021, she confessed to her family that she had killed him.
According to the suspect’s brother, Andrew, when his sister told the entire family what she did and how she could not sleep because her husband’s ghost was haunting her, they thought she was mad.
“She claimed that Chipungare was haunting her and that his ghost was giving her sleepless nights. She wanted people to know the truth. She wanted the family to know how she killed her husband,” said Andrew.
North West Police spokesperson, Brigadier Sabata Mokgwaabone said Majonhi told them that she had assaulted her husband with a hammer during an argument at their rented room in Ledig.
Majonhi further told them that as Chipungare lay on the floor, she took a shovel, cut him into pieces, then threw the parts into three pit toilets in the neighbourhood.
According to Andrew, Chipungare was working as a miner in Rustenburg – and Nancy joined him in 2006.
He said Majonhi shocked everyone when she confessed to having killed him during an argument over money in 2015.
“She was battling to sleep for four years. This compelled her to first confess to her children, who are working in Cape Town, in December. Later that month, she travelled to Zimbabwe, where she told our mother about what she did. She said she killed Chipungare after they argued over money. Nancy claimed that she confronted Chipungare about his misuse of family finances. She became irate and killed him.
“She said her husband was forcing her to confess for killing him in order to find peace. We thought that she was mad because, in 2015, she lied to us, saying her husband was missing. Her revelation has shocked all of us back home and in South Africa. We then decided that we were going to take her back to South Africa to confess to the police for her wrongdoings,” Andrew said.
Majonhi could have confessed to the police in January 2021 – but, due to Covid-19 regulations, she could not travel back to South Africa from Zimbabwe.
In August, they brought her to South Africa and took her to the Sun City police station, where she told the police what she had done.
The police went to the three toilets, where she said she had thrown her husband’s remains. The toilets were demolished and human remains were found among the excrement and taken for DNA testing.
“This is unbelievable. It was an ugly and painful sight when Chipungare’s remains were exhumed from three pit toilets. I am not going to judge my sister for what she did. The court of law will.
“I am here in court to give feedback to her children, in-laws and family back home in Zimbabwe. I am still shocked and can’t believe that my sister had done such a thing,” said Andrew.
Chipungare’s former churchmate, Lovemore Sithole, who was also in court, said the former miner was “butchered like an animal”.
Sithole said he last saw Chipungare in 2015 before he disappeared.
“Nancy told us that our churchmate had gone to Cape Town and would return. Years went by, and we continued receiving the same answer until she was arrested.
