Durban twins have pleaded guilty to helping the killers of an Uber driver dispose of his body.
Image: IOL
Twins Wandile and Asande Shange, 19, from Waterloo, Durban, have been sentenced to five years' imprisonment after pleading guilty to being accessories after the fact in the murder of 53-year-old Uber driver Zwakushiwo Dennis Zondi.
Zondi was allegedly strangled, and his body was burned beyond recognition in the Waterloo bushes on December 26, 2024.
Appearing in the Durban High Court this week, the twins admitted that they received a call from Lindani Shezi, who informed them that Ayanda Zulu, Andile Mbhele, and Luyanda Shozi needed assistance disposing of Zondi's body, stating the trio had robbed and killed him.
Wandile Shange detailed that after agreeing to help, he and his twin, along with Shezi, were picked up by the trio in Zondi's Toyota Rumion, which Zulu was driving.
“I entered the vehicle and occupied the back seat. That is when I saw the body of Zondi, who was known to me, lying on the floorboard of the motor vehicle,” Wandile explained.
Shezi then directed Zulu to a bushy area in Waterloo, where Zondi's body was doused with petrol and incinerated.
Shezi, 21, also pleaded guilty, corroborating the twins' account of giving Zulu directions to the disposal site. Shezi and the twins will testify against Zulu, Shozi, and Siyabonga Xolani Mkhize during their upcoming trial.
In December 2025, Andile Mbhele, 20, pleaded guilty to the murder, theft of Zondi's car, and bank cards, and provided a detailed account of the events leading to the murder.
Mbhele confessed that he, Zulu, and Shozi planned to rob Zondi. Shozi had requested Zondi's services under the pretence of needing to collect money in person. When Zondi arrived to pick them up, they were accompanied by two females, Nonhlanhla and Mandisa. Mbhele sat in the front, while Zulu, Nonhlanhla, and Shozi sat behind the driver, and Mandisa sat alone in the rear of the seven-seater vehicle.
During the drive in the Oakland area, they reached a dead end. Mbhele stated that he and his co-accused got out to urinate. As Zondi was about to restart the vehicle, Zulu suddenly strangled him.
“I assisted Zulu by grabbing the hand of the deceased while Zulu kept on strangling him until he fainted,” Mbhele explained.
Zulu and Shozi then pushed Zondi to the floor behind the driver's seat, and Shozi continued strangling him until he died, frothing from his mouth.
“Nonhlanhla and Mandisa tried to run away, but Zulu told them to stay in the car,” he explained.
Zulu then drove the car, informing the others they were heading to Waterloo, where he knew people who could help dispose of the body, suggesting it be burnt. In Waterloo, Zulu obtained petrol and returned with the Shange twins and Shezi.
Mbhele assisted the twins and Shezi with burning the body in the bushes, while Zulu and Shozi remained in the car with the women. Afterward, they used Zondi’s bank card to buy alcohol, dropped the women off at their homes, and went to Mkhize's house to drink further. Later that day, police arrived at Mkhize's home and recovered Zondi's vehicle.
Mbhele received a concurrent sentence of 15 years for robbery, five years for kidnapping, and 25 years for murder, with three years suspended for five years, conditional on no further convictions for violence or murder. Mbhele is also going to be testifying against his accomplices once they go on trial.
nomonde.zondi@inl.co.za