Everything you need to know about Marike de Klerk’s killer’s parole

Luyanda Mboniswa, the man who strangled Marike de Klerk to death. Picture: Leon Muller/African News Agency (ANA) Archives

Luyanda Mboniswa, the man who strangled Marike de Klerk to death. Picture: Leon Muller/African News Agency (ANA) Archives

Published Aug 15, 2023

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The man convicted for the murder of Marike de Klerk, ex-wife of former South African President FW de Klerk, has been granted parole. The Department of Correctional Services said Luyanda Mboniswa will be placed on parole on August 30.

Department spokesperson, Singabakho Nxumalo, said Mboniswa will be admitted into the system of community corrections and is expected to comply with a set of parole conditions, under the supervision of a parole officer.

As part of his parole conditions, Mboniswa will be restricted to his magisterial district and will not be allowed to change his address without informing his parole officer. Mboniswa will also not be allowed to contact the De Klerk family.

De Klerk was murdered in December 2001 in her Cape Town apartment. She had been strangled to death.In autopsy revealed that De Klerk was also found with several wounds to her head. According to the late forensic expert Professor Deon Knobel, "Mboniswa had roughly gripped De Klerk’s neck with so much force that he broke several bones in her throat and burst a blood vessel in her eye".

At the time, Knobel said his findings led him to believe that De Klerk was on her knees when she died.

Mboniswa, worked as a security guard at De Klerk’s Bloubergstrand apartment complex, and was arrested and charged. He was convicted on charges of murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, and housebreaking and sentenced in May 2003.

In February this year, IOL reported that Mboniswa approached the Western Cape High Court for parole after two previous failed quests.

IOL