South African court finds son guilty of killing father in bid for family wealth
A Gauteng man has been found guilty of murdering his father and trying to kill his mother in what prosecutors said was a cold-blooded attack
A Gauteng man has been found guilty of murdering his father and trying to kill his mother in what prosecutors said was a cold-blooded attack driven by money. The High Court in Johannesburg convicted 33-year-old Manqu Ndimphiwe on Wednesday, in a case that has shaken South African court watchers with its mix of family violence and alleged financial motive.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Magaboke Mohlatlole said the state argued Ndimphiwe wanted to benefit from his parents’ wealth, pension benefits and other assets. The convictions stem from a shooting at the family home in Leondale, Germiston, on Jan. 31, 2023.
Attack at the gate
According to the prosecution, Ndimphiwe’s parents had just returned home in the early afternoon when their son approached their vehicle at the gate and opened fire. His father, Mawethu Manqu, was fatally wounded and died at the scene. His mother was shot in the face, with the bullet passing through her cheek and out through her chin, but survived after emergency treatment.
The court also convicted Ndimphiwe of unlawfully possessing a firearm and ammunition. The state said the attack was planned. In its telling, this was not a split-second family dispute. It was deliberate. And it was about money.
Money, motive and a wider pattern
South African prosecutors have increasingly framed some family killings as financially motivated crimes, especially where estates, pensions or assets are at stake. This case fits that pattern. The NPA said the state’s argument was that Ndimphiwe intended to profit from his parents’ wealth. The court agreed enough to convict.
The ruling comes as courts elsewhere have dealt with similar violence tied to greed and inheritance. In the United States, for example, prosecutors in a New Jersey case said a man was driven by “greed and desperation” when he was convicted of killing his brother and the brother’s family. The countries differ. The central cruelty does not.
No sentence was mentioned in the available material, and the court’s next step was not detailed. But the verdict leaves one stark fact in place: a father is dead, a mother survived a gunshot to the face, and a son now stands convicted of turning on his own parents for financial gain.
“The state argued that the attack was premeditated and motivated by a desire to benefit financially from his parents’ wealth,” Mohlatlole said.
