Durban advocate commits suicide

Durban advocate Mvuseni Ngubane has been found dead at his home in Pinetown, KwaZulu-Natal police said on Sunday. Lieutenant colonel Vincent Mdunge said Ngubane was found with a gunshot wound to the head at around 15:00 on Saturday. He said there was a pistol next to the body. "Police found a suicide note near his body. Some parts of the letter were not readable due to bloodstains." Mdunge said family members found Ngubane on the back seat of his Mercedes-Benz in the garage. Paramedics declared him dead on the scene.

Ngubane handled high profile cases including that of convicted drug dealer Cheryl Cwele, the wife of State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele. The SABC reported that Ngubane had served on various boards and committees. He was a former president of the Black Lawyers' Association and chaired the Law Society of SA.

Ngubane was a successful lawyer who was recently appointed to the president’s new arms deal commission of inquiry. He was highly respected among colleagues who twice elected him as president of the Black Lawyers’ Association (BLA). He hit the headlines in recent years when he represented Sheryl Cwele, the then-wife of State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele, in her drug trafficking case. She was convicted and sentenced to 12 years in prison for drug trafficking. She has appealed against the sentence.

Cwele told The Witness she had been informed of Ngubane’s death on Saturday night by one of his colleagues. “It was very shocking to me. I respected him and he was very professional. “I never had any suspicions that he had trouble in his personal life,” she said. She said it was too early to make any decisions regarding her court case.

A source who did not want to be named told The Witness that Ngubane had been under financial strain because many of his clients were not honouring their debts. “He was always a man for smiles and jokes, so he wasn’t hard enough on those who owed him,” said the source.

Ngubane’s brother, Boy Ngubane, said the suicide note found in the car did not shed light on what pushed him to commit suicide. “There was nothing significant on the note and as a family we have taken a decision not to talk about it.

“He was not a person who suffered from any form of depression, when we were together, he was a bit tired but I just assumed that it was because of his training schedule as he was the kind of person who enjoyed training and often ran short-distance marathons.”


Source: News24