Olorato Mongale murder: After being cleared as a suspect, Fezile Ngubane vows to turn life around

JOHANNESBURG - After being mistakenly being named as a suspect in the murder of Olorato Mongale, Fezile Ngubane has vowed to turn his life around.

Following the killing of Mongale, police released a picture of Ngubane, branding him as a wanted suspect.

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But after handing himself over to police on Friday, Ngubane was cleared of the allegations when investigations showed that his identity was being used by the masterminds.

Mongale’s body was found in Johannesburg a few hours after she went missing.

Fezile spends most of his days washing cars and smoking whoonga, a common drug also known as nyoape.

It’s not how his parents imagined his life would turn out after he enrolled for a qualification in civil engineering at the Mangosuthu University of Technology many years ago.

Fezile’s father, Mandlakhe Ngubane, said the incident was a wake-up call for him not to waste his life.

"He was very smart. He is naturally a smart person. I sent him to a Muslim school in Johannesburg, but he was expelled in Grade 11 because of the drugs he was smoking."

Mandlakhe said that while Fezile finished his matric, he could never shake off the drugs, which eventually destroyed his potential.

The main suspect in Mongale’s murder was killed during a shootout with police in KwaZulu-Natal last week, while a second suspect is still on the run.