[citation needed] A small town, Empangeni made the headlines in the early 1980s for a very unfortunate reason.

The 35-year-old Mpungose was given the name ‘Hammerman’ because he would break into homes in the dead of night and kill the occupants with a hammer before robbing them of their possessions.

When he was brought to trial in November 1984, shortly after his arrest that same year, the Empangeni court was told that Mpungose attacked many other people during violent robberies, but never touched the children of his victims.

During the trial Mpungose stated that he wanted to die as he had a hard life, complicated by the actions of people who did not understand his plight.

He sentenced him to hang, whereupon Mpungose threw his blue tracksuit into the public gallery, shouted, and threatened to expose his penis to the court before he was restrained with handcuffs.

[3] Empangeni was one of the town severely damaged during the riots and subsequent looting that broke out in parts of South Africa in July 2021.