CAPE TOWN – The man who played a role in the high-profile femicide of Anni Dewani has on Tuesday been released on parole.
Zola Tongo was granted parole in March.
Dewani was shot dead in a taxi in Cape Town while on honeymoon in November 2010.
Zola Tongo's parole is effective from Tuesday until 6 June 2028.
The 42-year-old was sentenced on 7 December 2010 to 18 years behind bars.
The parole board found the former shuttle operator had ticked all the rehabilitation boxes and had served the prescribed minimum sentence making him eligible to be released.
The board also stated its decision was based on Tongo's positive behaviour and participation in rehabilitation programmes.
Tongo entered into a plea agreement and revealed the crime had not been a regular carjacking and robbery but rather an extraordinary murder plot masterminded by the deceased's husband and British businessperson Shrien Dewani to have his wife killed just days after their wedding.
Dewani was arrested in Britain, but was later acquitted in the Western Cape High Court due to insufficient evidence.
Artmotion S.Africa
