Siyakhangela Ndevu, whose apology has been a long time coming, said in court that he 'sympathised' with the families who lost 21 children at his tavern in 2022.

More than a year after the tragic Enyobeni Tavern incident in which 21 young children died, the tavern's owner has apologised to the families.

While testifying in the East London Regional Court on Wednesday, Siyakhangela Ndevu tendered an apology, but it came a little too late as the families longing for one rejected it.

The apology came after his attorney, Precious Daniel, asked if he had anything to say to the families.

"The manner in which they lost their children there [at Enyobeni] is painful," he said. "It was not their will nor mine or the children's that they died there. So I do apologise. I sympathise with them and their pain."

In August, an unremorseful Siyakhangela refused to apologise or sympathise with the parents of 21 young people who died at his tavern in Scenery Park, East London, in June 2022.

He said that even if he were found guilty, "I would be like Jesus dying for sins I know nothing of".

The victims, aged between 13 and 17, died during a "pens down" party to celebrate the end of the June exams.

"It's too late," said Khululekile Ncandana, the father of Bhongolethu Ncandana, who died at the tavern....