By KEDIBONE MOLAETSI
16 May 2025- The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said it welcomes the sentence of life imprisonment for rape handed down by the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court to a Zimbabwean national, Mulero Nyangero (32), from Pretoria West. Nyangero was further sentenced to five years imprisonment for robbery with aggravating circumstances.
The NPA regional spokesperson, Lumka Mahanjana said the court ordered that the sentences should run concurrently and he must be declared unfit to possess a firearm. Mahanjana said on 14 August 2020, in the afternoon, the victim was running on Kloof Street in Pretoria West, when three men came out of the nearby bush, approached and dragged her into the bushes, where Nyangero raped her.
“While Nyengero was raping her the other two men were assaulting her and threaten her with a knife. Thereafter, they forced her to transfer money to them via cell phone banking, tied her hands and fled the scene.
“The victim untied herself, ran to the road, where she got a lift home from a vehicle passing by. Thereafter, she went to Pretoria West Police Station, where she reported the matter,” she said.
Mahanjana further said after investigations, Nyangero was arrested on 21 February 2021, at a tavern in Pretoria West and has been in custody since. She added that, in court, Nyangero pleaded not guilty to the charges preferred against him and denied ever committing the offences.
“However, the state prosecutor, advocate Chester Molaba, presented compelling evidence by the investigating officers and the victim, which proved that indeed Nyangero committed the offences.
“During sentencing proceedings through his legal representative, Nyangero asked the court to deviate from imposing the prescribed minimum sentences because he is married and has two minor children that he needs to provide and care for,” said Mahanjana.
She said, furthermore, he asked the court to consider the fact that he has been in custody for four years since his arrest. Mahanjana said Molaba, however, argued against the deviation from the prescribed minimum sentence of life imprisonment because Nyangero showed no remorse for the serious crimes of Gender Based Violence (GBV) he committed, which are prevalent in the country.
“Molaba argued that the offences were inhumane, vicious, and brutal against a defenceless woman. In delivering the judgment, Magistrate Themba Ndwandwe, agreed with the state that the crimes committed by Nyangero were inhumane and that he showed no remorse.
“He said that his actions showed that he had no respect for women because he treated the victim like an animal. Therefore, he found no substantial and compelling circumstances to deviate from imposing the prescribed minimum sentence,” she said.
Meanwhile, the acting Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) advocate, Marika Jansen Van Vuuren, applauds the work of the prosecutor and the investigating officer, Captain Mkhonto, which led to this conviction and sentence. Van Vuuren said she hope that this sentence reaffirms the NPA’s commitment to prosecuting crimes of Gender Based Violence (GBV).
The Guardian 