Pretoria: The Polokwane Magistrate’s Court has remanded in custody five people arrested for the murder of two Limpopo businesswomen who were shot earlier this month in an apparent hit.
Stanley Thabo Leshabane, the husband of one of the victims, is among the five who appeared in court for the double murder on Monday, according to Limpopo spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority Mashudu Malabi-Dzhangi.
Construction and property businesswoman Tebogo Mphuti, 35, and her friend Makoena Mabusela-Leshabane, 46 –a senior aviation finance consultant at Investec – were shot and killed at point-blank range in a suspected hit as they were about to view a warehouse to rent in Magnavia, Polokwane.
Malabi-Dzhangi said 57-year-old Leshabane, the husband of Mabusela-Leshabane, was arrested in a hospital where he had been admitted. Media reports said he had tried to commit suicide.
“The five suspects – Buthelezi Mbekezi Ndondo, 25, Zulu John Richard, 30, Phigose Bhekinlenzo Sfiso, 34, Stanley Thabo Leshabane and Dlamini Emanuel Tembtiani, 30, appeared in the Polokwane magistrate’s Court in connection with the murder of the two businesswomen in Polokwane on Saturday, 10 October 2020,” Malabi-Dzhangi said.
All accused were charged with two counts of murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
Malabi-Dzhangi said police conducted a well-coordinated intelligence-driven operation and arrested the suspects at different addresses in Ekhuruleni and Germiston last week.
“A red Hyundai Accent which belongs to Zulu is believed to have been used in the commission of the murders,” she said.
The matter was postponed to November 2 to profile the accused, who will remain in custody until then. | African News Agency (ANA)