Sugar-cane killer was 'loving and polite' 20 Jan 2011, Bongani Mthembu

I thought it worthwhile to revisit the accounts of one of South Africa's worst serial killers and the impressions left by him.

This was an interesting article in the Sowetan shortly after his sentencing.

"Most villagers described Taki as a polite and down-to-earth man who "would not harm a fly"

"I still love him and want him to come home - Serial killer's fiancee 

KwaZulu-Natal's worst serial killer, was born in Machibi in the province.

Dubbed the sugar-cane serial killer, Taki robbed, raped, killed 13 women and dumped their bodies in the sugar-cane plantations of Umzinto and the tea plantations of Machibi, just outside KwaMajola near Port St Johns.
Durban high court Judge King Ndlovu yesterday handed Taki 13 life sentences for each of the 13 women he killed, plus a further 208 years - 16 years for the aggravated armed robbery of each woman.
The one-roomed dilapidated house Taki occupied since his youth has small windows and an old bed. Nothing in it belongs to the convicted serial killer.
The house itself belongs to Taki's cousin, Thembisile Taki, who provided him with sanctuary when his mother Mabuzelwa Majola-Taki died.
Minutes after being ushered into the house, a group of curious neighbours and relatives entered.
They all wanted to say something about the man they watched growing up.
Without interrupting one another, each gives an account of what they knew about the man.
Nokwanda Majali said she watched Taki become a hardened criminal in Johannesburg in the 1990s.
"I was still working in Johannesburg when he visited me. He was still looking for a job at the time. He visited me because we were neighbours here in Machibi."
Not long after he had visited, Majali heard that Taki and his Mozambican friends were robbing people's homes in Johannesburg.
"He was arrested for that and sentenced. He was then transferred to a Mthatha prison where he finished his sentence," Majali said.
Taki did not have a proper home. When he was released from prison, he stayed at Thembisile's home, or with the mother of his two children, Vusiwe Daniso.
"The homes are about 2km apart. Taki fathered two boys with Daniso in 1993 and 2007.
"He would go to any of these two homes to eat or to sleep. He did not have his own home," Thembisile recalled.
Despite the overwhelming evidence against Taki and more than 100 state witnesses who testified against him, Daniso still believed her fiancée should not be jailed.
"I need him here. How am I going to raise these children without him?"
She said she still loved Taki and wants him to come home."
20 Jan 2011, Bongani Mthembu, Sowetan

Excellent article by Bongani. Unbelievable how the fiancee is still interested in a relationship for economical reasons only? Some people are just very different.