Mon séjour en Afrique du Sud (Cape Town)

The country’s first black senior military judge, Colonel Phildah Nomoyi, has been admitted to the critical high-care unit at the Thaba Tshwane military hospital.

According to sources close to the Department of Defence, Nomoyi (42) is alleged to have doused herself with petrol and set herself alight on Wednesday night.

The department and the SANDF refused to release details of the incident.

The department could only say that a military judge was in a stable condition at one of its military hospitals.

Last night Pretoria police said they had not been informed about the incident.

Pretoria police spokesperson Captain Tessa Jansen said: “Nothing was reported to us about that incident.

“Only criminal cases are reported to us for investigation.

“If the victim is believed to have attempted to commit suicide, we will not be called in to investigate.”

Gauteng police spokesperson Superintendent Eugene Opperman last night said it was “too late” to get any information, and he would enquire about the incident this morning.

“It sounds like an attempted suicide, but that is not a crime and we can’t investigate.

“But there still must be evidence that shows that it was an attempted suicide for us not to investigate,” said Opperman.

When the Pretoria News contacted Defence Department spokesperson Sam Mkhwanazi, he said he did not know anything about the incident and wanted to first investigate.

When Mkhwanazi returned for comment, he said he was not sure whether the matter had been referred to the SAPS.

“This may appear to be a straightforward story.

“It’s tricky because this is a private matter – as far as we know it did not take place within the military base,” said Mkhwanazi.

Neither the SAPS nor the department could say where the incident took place.

Mkhwanazi said the department wasn’t sure whether Nomoyi, a mother of three, had set herself alight. “The first time I heard her name (Nomoyi) was when you called me.

“If you could get to the family, they might give you more information, but we don’t even have grounds to release her name.”

Another defence spokesperson, Petrus Motlhabane, said he wasn’t sure whether military police or the SAPS were investigating.

Nomoyi was one of three judges who presided in the case of former SA Air Force sergeant Flippie Venter.

In August last year, the Thaba Tshwane military court found Venter guilty of the murder of a Burundian teenager.