A FORMER Democratic Alliance (DA) councillor will spend the rest of his life in prison.

This after he was found guilty of burning his own family to death.

The Ladysmith Regional Court on Friday, 30 May sentenced Michael Buthelezi (48) to four terms of life imprisonment and 15 years’ imprisonment following his conviction on four counts of murder, arson, and two counts of defeating the ends of justice.

The offences all relate to the incidents that occurred in October 2023 in the Bethany area of Bergville.

Buthelezi was a councillor for the Democratic Alliance (DA) party at the time.

Daily Sun reported about the incident where on 29 October 2023, at around 2 am, a fire broke out at the two-roomed dwelling where Buthelezi and his fiancee, Khombosile Khoza, resided with their three minor kids, aged between two and 10 years old.

The family was trapped in the house until the door was kicked down by one of the witnesses who first arrived at the scene. Khoza, as well as two of the kids, aged two and eight years old, passed away in the fire.

Buthelezi and the 10-year-old child walked out of the house; however, the child was put on palliative care, and she succumbed to her injuries later at the hospital. Buthelezi was placed under observation and treated for his injuries.

National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) regional spokeswoman Natasha Ramkisson-Kara said after the incident, Buthelezi misled the cops by giving them false information about the incident on two separate occasions. Buthelezi’s statements were investigated and found to be false, thus resulting in his arrest.

“In securing this conviction, the state, represented by Prosecutor Shika Siverpersad, led the evidence of 11 witnesses including the first people to arrive at the scene, medical personnel and the paramedics, as well as a relative who told the court that Buthelezi and Khoza shared a tumultuous relationship and that just two weeks before the incident he had threatened to kill her by burning her,” she said.

She said in addition, Siverpersad handed in a Victim Impact Statement compiled by Khoza’s dad and facilitated by Court Preparation Officer Khulekani Professor Mthembu.

In his statement, Khoza’s dad said that he and his family were hurt and traumatised by the incident, adding that stress has adversely affected his health.

“Buthelezi was sentenced to life imprisonment for each of the four counts of murder, five years’ imprisonment for the arson, and five years’ imprisonment for each of the two counts of defeating the administration of justice. He will serve an effective life imprisonment, and he was declared unfit to possess a firearm,” added Ramkisson-Kara.

Source: Daily Sun