THIRTY YEARS ago Frank went to jail for murder and armed
robbery. But now Frank wants forgiveness for the crime he was never sentenced
for . . . HE BELIEVES
ANGRY SPIRITS ARE SENDING FIRES TO BURN HIM FOR
RAPING HIS MOTHER.
Frank Buthelezi from Dlamini, Soweto, is 65 years
old.
It is hard to think the frail man lying on his
deathbed was once a raging thug, terrorising ikasi and caring for nothing but
himself and his own pleasure.
In the 1980s, when he was a strong young man, he
terrorised his family and the community - and eventually found himself behind
bars for armed robbery and murder.
But he was never sentenced for the worst of his
crimes.
He confessed to Daily Sun he often used to rape and
beat his mum and other family members.
Now the dying man is asking for forgiveness. When
Sina Buthelezi died in 1992 at the age of 74, her anger at the brutal actions
of her own son had not subsided, and he believes his mother's angry spirit is
sending fires that have burnt him six times in the last few months.
The fires apparently start in the cupboard and then
attack him in bed. "I'm not proud of the things I did in my past. I never
cared for anyone but myself," said Frank.
"I wanted to go to my mother's grave and ask
her for forgiveness early in December, but I had a stroke and never made it to
the grave."
Frank said he knows what he did was wrong.
"Even when I got paroled, I terrorised my family.
I even wanted to kick them out of the house," he said.
"People haunt me in my dreams. They all speak
about the evil things I did a long time ago."
A neighbour said she hears Frank screaming at night.
"He said he dreams of people following him.
They all want to kill him," she said.
A 65-year-old woman told Daily Sun Frank raped her
four times while she was still at school. "He made me pregnant. I was
forced to be his girlfriend. We were together for eight years and I had two
children with him," she said.
"He used to beat me with anything he could
find. To this day I still have problems with my spine where he beat me with a
brick."
When Frank was sentenced to 17 years in prison in
1983, she broke all her ties with him and has since married another man.
Frank was released on parole in 1993.
Frank's daughter said Frank came to the house soon
after his mother died. But after all the pain the daughter went through, she
didn't want to even see her father on the property.
"I even took him out of the family will,"
she said. "My grandmother was a good woman who wanted to see all her children
happy but Frank wouldn't allow it. He did terrible things to her."
A neighbour who remembers Frank from his wild days,
said Sina used to call her in the middle of the night to rescue her from the
violent son.
She has some advice for the family.
"Nothing will come right until the family goes
to the graveyard to ask for forgiveness," she
said
