Flabba’s Family Responds To News Of Manqele’s Release: “We Have Forgiven Her”
The family of murdered rapper Nkululeko “Flabba” Habedi says they have forgiven his killer, Sindisiwe Manqele, who was released on parole on Tuesday.
The family was reacting to the news that Manqele had been released by the Department of Corrections after serving six years of her 12-year sentence. Tshepang Habedi, Flabba’s brother, said he was aware of Manqele’s parole because correctional services had contacted his mother.
“This was bound to happen. She is out. I have healed. I have accepted things a long time ago.
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“I’m at peace with the whole thing. My mother, I presume, is also at peace with it. I spoke to her and she said there is nothing we can do. If we dwell on that we will be going backwards.
“We have forgiven her. That is the only way we could move on. If we had not forgiven her we wouldn’t move on… It was very hard, trust me, but we had a conversation as a family and made that decision.
“I lost a father. Nkululeko was a father to me after my dad passed away, he came in and filled those shoes. He was a brother, father and a friend. As a family, we had to make that decision to forgive in order to move on. We did that a long time ago. It helped us because we would have lived under the umbrella of what Sindi [Manqele] did,” Habedi said.
Manqele stabbed Flabba after an altercation at his home in Alexandra, Johannesburg, in March 2015. He was 37 years old when he died. His death shook the country, with many people urging the court to punish Manqele harshly.
Flabba was a member of Skwatta Kamp, a successful hip-hop group. “The decision was taken by the correctional supervision and parole board (CSPB) having assessed Manqele’s profile as submitted by the case management committee and other material presented for the purposes of parole consideration.”
Skwatta Kamp rapper Siyabonga “Slikour” Metane said he doesn’t know what to think about Manqele being a free woman. “It does not bring back Flabba. It is really about how the family feels, to be quite honest. For me, I do not know her [Manqele]. I have never known her. I am more thinking of the family and how they feel… It does not bring back my friend,” Metane said.
“That is a tough one…I personally do not have any ill feelings against her being released. One thing I know about how she got arrested is that she said her actions were in self-defence. It so happens that Flabba had to suffer because of that…The fact that she is released on parole is lawful and by the book. The law allows it.”
Musician and poet Mzwakhe Mbuli said he would take his cue from the family. “If the family accepts what has just happened, I will also accept it… My view is that prison makes you or it breaks [you]. Recently we’ve seen people out on parole continuing to commit heinous crimes.
“But if somebody has repented and shown remorse, there is nothing we can do. Let us just respect the decision of the family on this one,” Mbuli said.
Nxumalo stated that Manqele expressed remorse while serving her sentence. “Manqele takes responsibility for the offence she committed and is remorseful about it. She completed all the identified programmes as per her correctional sentence plan and participated in victim-offender dialogue in 2018.”
During her time in prison, she earned an honours degree in business management from Unisa. Nxumalo clarified that Manqele will finish her sentence outside. “It is critical to highlight that parole placement is not the end of the sentence as Manqele will complete the remainder of the sentence in the system of community corrections where she is expected to comply with a specific set of conditions and will be subjected to supervision until her sentence expires on May 23 2028.”
