Husband and co-accused sentenced to life for 2020 murder of wife and business partner

Almost four years after the gruesome murder of two Johannesburg businesswomen who were killed in a hail of bullets while looking for business premises in Polokwane, their killers, including the husband of one of the women, were given life sentences by the Limpopo high court in Polokwane.

Thabo Leshabane, 58, Mbekelezi Ndodo Buthelezi, 28, Emmanuel Thembelani Dlamini,33, and Bhekizenzo Sfiso Phiyose, 36, were sentenced to life imprisonment on two counts of murder. Buthelezi was also sentenced to three years on two counts of possession of firearms and one year for possession of ammunitions.

On October 10 2020, the victims, chartered accountant Makoena Mabusela-Leshabane and her business partner Tebogo Mphuti, were shot dead while sitting in a Mercedes-Benz in the Polokwane industrial area by hitmen hired by Makoena’s husband, Thabo Leshabane.

According to NPA spokesperson Mashudu Malabi-Dzhangi, Leshabane had paid a R5,000 deposit to the hitmen, while the total amount agreed on for the killing was R60 000. 

Malabi-Dzhangi said footage from CCTV cameras from surrounding buildings helped police to arrest the killers. 

After viewing the CCTV cameras, police were able to get the vehicle registration details, which they traced at toll gates, and found the vehicle had travelled in the direction of Gauteng. Investigations, which included approaching tracking companies and going through cellphone records, led to the arrest of the men.

TimesLIVE Premium previously reported that Leshabane was arrested two weeks after the murder of his wife while in hospital, where he was admitted after an apparent suicide attempt. He was believed to have drunk poison.

Family spokesperson Mmakgabo Ramotshela told the publication at the time the family thought the death of his wife put a strain on him when he was admitted to the hospital.

“We were wrong. It’s clear now that the stress was his concern. Where does he go from now? His biggest worry was what he could do to run away,” Ramotshela told TimesLIVE Premium.

Malabi-Dzhangi said the state led evidence of two experts from tracking companies. They testified that the vehicle of the accused had followed that of the deceased from the hotel, where the deceased slept, to the crime scene.

She also said the state led evidence of a witness , who testified that Zulu called him on October 10 2020 during the day and confessed to him that he had travelled from Polokwane, where he had killed Leshabane’s wife. 

The state led the evidence during a trial-within-a-trial on Leshabane’s confession. The confession statement was admitted as evidence. In it, Leshabane detailed the planning of the offence. He handed his co-accused a photograph of his wife, also giving him her car’s registration number and location.

In aggravation of sentence, Leshabane’s stepson testified he and his siblings were surviving by getting counselling and were asking themselves why their mother was killed.

Senior state advocate George Sekhukhune argued that the crime was carefully planned.

He told the court the accused chose the location far away from Gauteng, where the deceased were residing.

They carefully planned the execution location so that they could not be easily traced. He argued the community of ga-Matlala had suffered a great loss by not getting the library that was supposed to have been built by Makoena.

Makoena had been providing jobs to the community by hiring people to work at her event company and also donated R300 monthly to an orphanage. 

Furthermore, her minor children were surviving by receiving trauma counselling biweekly at their school. Sekhukhune also argued that the gravity of the offences far outweighed the personal circumstances of the accused. He said the court should not deviate from the prescribed minimum sentence.

Judge Geriet Muller sentenced the accused to direct life imprisonment and declared them unfit to possess firearms.

The NPA welcomed the sentence, and director of public prosecutions advocate Ivy Thenga said the punishment fitted the crime and justice had been served.

Thenga commended the investigating team, led by Capt Richard Boshomane and Sekhukhune.

TimesLIVE