What began as an ordinary day for five-year-old Simphiwe Ntobeko Xaba ended in unimaginable tragedy after he became the innocent victim of a revenge plot aimed at his mother.
A South African court has heard the chilling confession of 40-year-old Sibongile Happiness Ngwadla, who admitted kidnapping and killing the little boy because she blamed his mother for introducing her to online gambling, an addiction she claimed destroyed her finances.
Appearing before the Durban High Court, Ngwadla pleaded guilty to charges of murder, kidnapping and attempted extortion, admitting that she deliberately targeted the child to make his mother suffer.
According to her guilty plea, she abducted Simphiwe on August 22, 2025, and hid him at the Ezimeleni informal settlement, where a relative unknowingly provided him with shelter. She later sent ransom messages to the boy’s mother using a burner phone, demanding an eWallet payment of R60,000, which she intended to use to settle debts she said had accumulated through gambling.
In court, Ngwadla said she harboured deep resentment towards the child’s mother, claiming she felt abandoned during her financial struggles.
“I resented the deceased’s mother, who introduced me to gambling, for failing to assist me when I fell on hard times, and I sought to make her pay for it,” she told the court.
As police officers, volunteers and residents launched a widespread search for the missing child, with his photograph circulating across social media, Ngwadla realised the pressure was mounting.
Instead of releasing the frightened little boy, she made a horrifying decision.
She confessed that she first attempted to strangle him in a secluded area in Isipingo but stopped when he cried uncontrollably. Later, she drove him to the Q Section of Umlazi, where she threw him into a river, leading to his death by drowning.
Ngwadla admitted the killing was carefully planned to silence the only witness who could expose her kidnapping and extortion plot.
After the murder, she tried to cover her tracks by falsely telling a relative that she had safely returned the child to his mother. She also spread another false claim that the boy’s mother had thrown him into the river.
Investigators uncovered the deception, leading to her arrest on August 27, 2025.
As her guilty plea was read by her Legal Aid lawyer, Zeera Fareed, Ngwadla broke down in tears before apologising to the grieving family.
“I apologise to the family that I have caused harm to. I am remorseful,” she said, expressing hope that her sentence would convince them of the sincerity of her regret. She also said she wished to apologise to her own five children.
However, Simphiwe’s mother, Ntombifikile Xaba, rejected Ngwadla’s claim that she introduced her to gambling. She explained that while they once lived near each other, Ngwadla merely borrowed her phone to gamble online and insisted she never encouraged the habit. She also revealed that their friendship had already broken down months before the incident over a disagreement involving a damaged household kettle.
In an emotional victim impact statement, the grieving mother described how the loss of her son had forever changed her life.
“I trust no one. I have become overprotective of my two boys. I no longer allow them to leave my sight. I don’t allow them to go out and play with other children because I fear they will not return,” she said.
The court adjourned the case until Thursday for sentencing proceedings, as Simphiwe’s family continues to seek justice for a young life cruelly cut short by an act of revenge.
