DURING a police raid in Durban’s CBD investigators stumbled upon a vital piece of evidence that helped them link two women to the 2020 murder of a 81-year-old man, who was robbed and shot execution style.
Last week, the women, Lungile Qoza, 39, and Ntombikayise Khambule, 47, were each sentenced to life and a further 20 years imprisonment for the robbery and murder of Mohammed Salajee, a businessman and community worker from Chatsworth.
Salajee’s daughter, Sabira, said while her father’s death devastated their family, the judgment and sentence handed to the two accused was justice served.
Both accused worked in cahoots and promised to set up business deals for Salajee, including the purchase of a property.
On July 11, 2020, he had R150 000 cash in his possession for the property deal.
Instead, the women overpowered Salajee, tied his hands and feet with his shoelaces, placed him in the boot of his Toyota Corolla before the hitman they hired shot him twice in his face.
Salajee’s ID book was found in Khambule’s underwear during a police raid approximately three months after his death.
Regional Court Prosecutor Chantal Bisumber used the evidence from an ID parade to place the women at the scene of the crime.
The police raid was aimed at busting Sassa grant scamsters.
At that stage, police were yet to make sense of how Salajee’s body ended up in his car’s boot. The vehicle was found abandoned in the eNgonyameni area, near uMlazi.
When police questioned Khambule, they uncovered Qoza’s and her plan to rob and murder Salajee.
It was believed that Khambule had previously been a part-time domestic worker at Salajee’s home in Westcliff.
She was introduced to the deceased by her boyfriend, who worked for Salajee and helped him build a chicken coop in his backyard.
Salagee earned his income from raising chickens, growing vegetables, tailoring and as a chef, who catered for large functions from his large Westcliff property.
Cooking large meals was his main source of income, and there was a time when he was involved in his late son’s cut, make and trim (CMT) business.
Khambule was apparently aware of Salajees business operations.
She colluded with Qoza, and a hitman was hired.
Sabira said she was surprised when police called her about her father’s ID, and she told them he had been killed but was not sure who the perpetrators were.
“The two accused plotted against my father.
“They told him they had a farm in the Intake area (near Pinetown) and said a local chief would help him to purchase land. But we never got to know the chief.”
She said that her father had set up and started his small-scale farming on the land he wanted to purchase.
“He even took his fridge, gas burners and some of the CMT machines to his new workplace to do sewing classes and empower the local community.
“My father was given a room on the land to do all his operations, and it took him a few months to get started there.
“On the day he was killed, he left with the intention to pay for the property and package his chicken in readiness for sale.
“He also grew cabbages there, and Khambule worked on the field.
“My son-in-law counted my father’s money before he left home and asked him where he was travelling with a large sum of cash, but he wouldn’t say. My son-In-law also offered to accompany him, but he refused.”
Sabira recalled that before her father left home, the women called him repeatedly, inquiring about when he was leaving.
Sabira said it was revealed in court that her father was placed in the car’s boot and was being taken to a particular destination to be executed.
Along the way, the car stalled near uMlazi, and the hitman shot Salajee, who was in the boot.
She and her family were left stunned by Salajee’s death and wondered why he was killed until police made the breakthrough.
“All his hard work went in vain because of the murderers.”
Sabira, who lived with her father, said she loathed coming to an empty house every day.
“He would ensure that there was a hot cooked meal for me when I returned from work. He was more than a father. He was everything to me.”
She said he was a god-fearing, dedicated community activist who always looked to help the poor.
She was relieved that her father’s killers were found and brought to book through God’s intervention and was grateful for the work done by the prosecutor and police.
The hitman, according to Natasha Ramkisson-Kara, the National Prosecuting Authority’s KwaZulu-Natal spokesperson, died a month after the incident.
The circumstances of his death are unknown.
Ramkisson-Kara said: ”The NPA acknowledges the successful finalisation of this matter, and we commend the work done by the prosecution and investigation team. We hope this sentence will have the necessary deterrent effect.”
SUNDAY TRIBUNE