By Everson Luhanga
- Nonhlanhla and Bhekani Nzimande were shot dead in their Troyville home on 8 October 2023 while their daughter Fikile watched.
- The two men convicted of killing them and three others were sentenced on 24 April 2026 to a combined eight life terms plus 149 years.
Bhekani Nzimande loved rugby. A spinal illness had left him unable to walk properly since 2022, but he never missed a match. He had made his whole family love sport too.
On the night of 8 October 2023, the family gathered at their home in Troyville, east of Johannesburg, to watch a game together. His daughter Fikile was there. So was his wife Nonhlanhla.
Armed men forced their way in at around 01:00.
“They first shot my mother with four bullets while my father watched helplessly,” Fikile said. Her father tried to get up despite his condition. They shot him too.
Before killing them, the men robbed the elderly couple of around R11,000 in cash. Three tenants were also robbed.
The attackers then found a man called Proud in another room with his girlfriend Precious. Fikile heard what happened next through the wall.
“Skhokho, I still love you. Please don’t kill me,” Precious said. The man she called Skhokho replied: “It’s too late now.” Then came the gunshots.
Four people were killed in the house that night. A fifth, Mehluli Sibanda, had been killed by the same men two days earlier in Bertrams.
On 24 April 2026, the Gauteng Division of the High Court in Johannesburg sentenced Clifford “Skhokho” Moyo to five life terms plus 76 years. His co-accused, Nhlanhla “Mjikijelwa” Ncube, received three life terms plus 73 years. The extra years run alongside the life sentences. Neither man will leave prison.
Fikile said she lived in fear of being killed as a witness until police made the arrests. She credited investigating officer Sergeant Bongani Mbonambi for keeping the family going through nearly three years of waiting.
“He worked hard on this case and kept supporting us,” she said.
The mark from the gun they pressed against her forehead that night is still there.
Pictured above: Nonhlanhla and Bhekani Nzimande, killed in their Troyville home on 8 October 2023. Their daughter Fikile was in the house when it happened.
Image source: Supplied by family
