Cape Town - Earlier this week, police arrested a married couple from Tshwane after the husband, who was reported to have burnt to death last year, was caught while driving a stolen vehicle.
This comes after it was reported that Sibusiso Mahlangu, from Soshanguve, had died after he burnt to death in a house fire in 2022.
Police say that Mahlangu and his wife, Lerato Mahlangu, from Soshanguve, have been charged with murder, defeating the ends of justice and fraud
Police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Mavela Masondo, said police in Hammanskraal received a tip-off about a suspected stolen motor vehicle.
“Police responded swiftly and stopped the vehicle, a white VW Polo, in Hammanskraal, and upon inspecting the vehicle, it was confirmed that it was reported stolen in Witbank, this month.
“The driver (Mahlangu) was arrested and charged with possession of a suspected stolen motor vehicle.
Masondo confirmed that upon questioning of Mahlangu, it was established that he allegedly killed and burned a person in Soshanguve in January 2022, before fleeing to Mpumalanga. A case of murder was added.
Masondo confirmed that Mahlangu allegedly killed and burned a person in Soshanguve, further raising suspicions that the body could be that of Lerato's ex-boyfriend, Sibusiso Sithebe, who is also the father of her daughter.
Sithebe was reported missing on January,1 2022, after he and his new girlfriend attended their child's birthday celebration, according to Sithebe's sister, Linah.
After Sithebe failed to return from work in Hammanskraal, his girlfriend notified the family, and the family then filed a missing person’s case.
After a year had passed since Sithebe's death, his sister received a phone call from the police and was shown images of a burned-out house and her brother, who had been burned from the waist up.
Meanwhile, NPA spokesperson in Gauteng, Lumka Mahanjana, said the husband allegedly killed the deceased at their RDP house and thereafter burnt the house with the body of the deceased inside.
Mahanjana said the wife fraudulently claimed that the burned person was her husband and reported his death at Home Affairs, obtaining a fictitious death certificate despite knowing that her husband was alive and deliberately burying the wrong person. She also claimed money for insurance cover.
Mahanjana further confirmed that the couple was arrested and remanded in custody pending further investigations, and were expected to appear at the Soshanguve Magistrate's Court on May, 4, 2023.
The story of the Mahlangu’s is similar to that of Facebook rapist Thabo Bester, who escaped from the Mangaung Correctional Centre, after it was reported that he died in a self-inflicted fire in his prison cell in May 2022.
Bester was on the run for almost a year before he was arrested in Arusha, Tanzania, along with his partner, Dr Nandipha Magudumana on April, 8 2023.
Before his incarceration, Bester had been found guilty of several crimes, including murder and rape charges committed against women he had met through Facebook.
He was convicted in 2012 of assaulting and killing Nomfundo Tyhulu and was convicted of robbing and raping two women in 2011. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.
IOL