Johannesburg – Before convicted murderers Samuel Sampie Khanye and Victor Moyo walked out of Kgosi Mampuru’s spiked prison gates 11 days ago, Khanye had just one request – which wasn’t granted.
He wanted to personally tell prison director Mabuti Tshele the Constitutional Court had overturned their life sentences and convictions on four counts – including murder and robbery – and ordered their immediate release.
“Officials say all inmates sing the same song. Tshele called me a liar when I said I knew nothing about this crime. After 14 years in jail for a crime I didn’t commit, the court has proved that I’m innocent.”
An elated Khanye, 37, and Moyo, 35, were vindicated by order of the highest court in the land. Thanks to the combined efforts of the Wits Justice Project (WJP), human rights attorney Egon Oswald, advocate Carol Steinberg and wrongfully convicted co-accused Thembekile Molaudzi, the men left the prison carrying little else besides a heavy burden of betrayal by the criminal justice system.
Ironically, North West Judge President Monica Leeuw, who convicted the men in 2004, also signed their warrant of liberation.
Both men had protested their innocence since their 2003 arrest when they were rounded up as suspects – with six others – following a botched hijacking and murder of Mothutlung policeman Dingaan Makuna.
Hoping truth would prevail, Khanye agreed to participate in a prison victim-offender dialogue programme, to meet Makuna’s family and “tell the truth” to help both obtain psychological closure.
“I told the truth,” Khanye said. “I said I never committed the murder. When I started crying, Tshele, who was at the meeting, told me to stop shedding crocodile tears and obstructing the course of justice.”
Moyo refused to meet the family. “I never killed anyone. The worst part was no one believed me. I saw a psychologist but all she could tell me was ‘be strong’.”
Failed by the police, the courts, Legal Aid lawyers, private attorneys and an advocate appointed by the Johannesburg Bar Council, Khanye and Moyo can expect no compensation from the state.
“I’m excited but I’m scared to face the real world,” Moyo said outside the gates. “I’ve been here a long time and everything is different now.”
Luckily, Khanye and Moyo can turn to “old-timer” exonerees Molaudzi, Boswell Mhlongo and Disco Nkosi for support as they try to rebuild their broken lives – Mhlongo and Nkosi’s convictions were the first to be overturned in a precedent-setting 2015 Concourt case.
Mhlongo and Nkosi’s exonerations paved the way for Molaudzi, who spearheaded the long battle to prove the men’s innocence, to appeal his own conviction and motivated Khanye and Moyo to fight for their freedom.
It was Molaudzi who alerted the WJP to Khanye and Moyo’s predicament and persuaded them to lodge their Concourt appeal. This was no easy feat.
Legal Aid SA was unwilling to assist them and neither could afford R6000 to print 25 copies of their trial record as required by the court.
“My brother gave me R3000 and I earned R60 a month as a cook in prison,” Khanye said. “I saved every cent my brother and sister gave me for toiletries.”
