'I Saw Him Shooting Her': Mother's Testimony Helps Convict Ex-Soldier of Wife's Murder in Pinetown

• Former soldier Lwanda Mxolisi Zungu was convicted of murdering his wife, Tania, at their Pinetown home on 3 January 2024
• Zungu shot Tania eight times with hollow-point ammunition while their two young sons and her mother were inside the house
• The court rejected Zungu's claim that the gun went off during a struggle, with sentencing set for late August

KWAZULU-NATAL - A KwaZulu-Natal court found former soldier Lwanda Mxolisi Zungu guilty of murdering his wife after she was shot eight times inside their Pinetown home. The killing took place on 3 January 2024, with the couple's two young sons and Tania's mother present in the house at the time.

Prosecutors established that Zungu used a semi-automatic pistol loaded with hollow-point ammunition. Ballistic experts testified that hollow-point rounds expand dramatically upon impact, causing severe internal damage.

The night Tania died

Zungu's mother-in-law, Gwendoline Msane, told the court she heard her daughter scream and ran to the bedroom. When she opened the door, she saw Zungu shooting Tania. Her testimony proved central to the state's case.

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Zungu took the stand and denied deliberately pulling the trigger. He claimed the couple had argued and that he was getting ready to leave for the gym when Tania picked up his firearm. He testified that he heard the weapon being cocked and that it discharged repeatedly while he tried to wrestle it from her hands.

The magistrate rejected his account entirely. Captain Solomon Modisane, a ballistic reconstruction expert, placed the shooter in the exact position where Msane saw Zungu standing. The court found no evidence of any intruder entering the home.

What also weighed heavily against Zungu was his behaviour after the shooting. Rather than call for help or contact police, he took the firearm and drove to Johannesburg. The magistrate noted that his conduct bore no resemblance to that of someone who had just witnessed a tragic accident. The court further found that Zungu made no attempt to alert anyone about what had happened before leaving the scene.

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Sentencing postponed to August

The matter has been postponed to late August 2025 for sentencing proceedings. Zungu now faces the prospect of a lengthy prison term for the murder of Tania, leaving behind two young boys who were inside the house on the night their mother was killed.

Former SANDF member sentenced to 25 years in prison

In similar news,Briefly News reported that former SANDF Special Forces member has been sentenced to an effective 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to the shocking murder of his wife in Westville, KwaZulu-Natal.Frederick Nicolaas Le Roux was sentenced at the Durban High Court on Wednesday, 13 May 2026, after admitting to killing his wife, Taryn Le Roux.

Source: Briefly News