Everson Luhanga
Years ago, Gift Mkhwanazi came to Johannesburg to look for greener pastures. But the 33-year-old man from Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal is unlike anyone else.
Mkhwanazi is one of the worst serial rapists in South Africa’s history, terrorising women around the area of Ekurhuleni for six years after settling in Tembisa.
And he got away with it for so many years by convincing those around him that he was an ordinary man.
Mkhwanazi has three children – aged 11, 10, and five – all from different mothers.
He told the Johannesburg High Court during his trial that he was engaged to his sweetheart and the two were planning to get married soon.
He lived in a modest one-room apartment in Tembisa’s Kaalfontein section and said he was a casual worker who made a living as a plumber.
With his parents and his two sisters still living in KZN, Mkhwanazi said he used to support them with the money he was making from his plumbing jobs.
Mkhwanazi, who could not remember any of his teachers, or the school he went to in Pietermaritzburg, said during the trial that he dropped out of education in Grade 10.
But he told the court that he thought he was healthy with a sound state of mind.
Mkhwanazi was arrested on 1 November 2019 for crimes he committed between 2013 and 2019 in Tembisa.
Scrolla.Africa met with his landlord, 60-year-old Florence Baleni, who said that Mkhwanazi used to stay in one of the outside rooms.
Florence described him as a respectful young man who respected her. “He never showed any signs of being a criminal.
“What I know is that he had a girlfriend who used to visit him once in a while.
“I trusted him and I used to send him to do errands for me and some shopping for me,” Florence said.
Mkhwanazi apparently loves Maskandi music and Heineken is his favorite beer.
His best friend, Linda Phakathi, told Scrolla.Africa that he had known him since 2012.
He said one thing that he didn’t understand about Mkhwanazi was that he was always having different phones.
“I didn’t want to ask him how he gets his phones in case he gets upset at me,” said Linda. It came to pass that he stole the phones from the women he raped.
Mkhwanazi was convicted by the Johannesburg High Court on Thursday.
