Johannesburg: Happy Sindane murder case postponed

A 58-year-old man accused of the murder of Happy Sindane appeared in the KwaMhlanga Magistrate's Court on Wednesday, Mpumalanga police said.

Police spokesperson Leonard Hlathi said Khuwana Simon Mthimunye would be back in court on 11 April for a bail application.

Sindane was found dead in Tweefontein, next to KwaMhlanga, on Monday.

Police said he appeared to have been stoned to death.

Sindane made headlines in 2003 when he claimed he was a white boy who had been kidnapped by black people.

After a four-month inquiry to establish his identity the Bronkhorstspruit Children's Court found in September 2003 that Sindane's real name was Abbey Mziyaye and he was the son of a black domestic worker, Rina Mzayiya.

The court found his father was probably a white man, Henry Nick, who employed Mzayiya in 1984. He was born that year.

The whereabouts of both were unknown.

In 2004 Sindane was run over by a minibus and a car.

When the accident occurred Sindane was lying in the road outside the Sinzanani Trust Village place of safety in Bronkhorstspruit, where he lived.

It was not known why he was lying in the road.

Later that year Sindane appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate's Court for malicious damage to property.

He was arrested in Marabastad, Pretoria, after he allegedly broke the windows of a taxi with stones.

In 2005 the charges were dropped after the taxi owner told the court he had repaired the damage himself and did not wish to proceed with the case.

He was also awarded a settlement payout by Dulux paint company, which used his image in an advertisement "any colour you can think of", which he said was done without his permission.

- SAPA

Source: News24 (03/04/2013): http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Happy-Sindane-murder-case-postponed-20130403