Johannesburg – Rosemary Ndlovu, the former cop accused of ordering hits on relatives and a boyfriend for insurance payouts, spent time in the dock yesterday denying all the shocking allegations she faced.
The most brazen of her denials concerned the brutal killing of Brilliant Mashego, her sister’s son.
Mashego was attacked and killed in the vicinity of an Engen filling station in Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga, in January 2018.
Testifying in her trial yesterday, Ndlovu admitted to leaving Mashego quite late at night at the Engen station.
But she insisted Mashego asked to be left there. “He got off, not that I dropped him there,” she told the court.
Prosecutor Riana Williams, who was conducting a cross-examination, put it to Ndlovu “the deceased was found where you left him”.
She replied she had warned Mashego against getting off in that area. “I left him at that garage. As to what happened after that, I don’t know.
“I warned him. I told him it’s late at night. He told me the garage is close to his church and he is used to going to church even late at night.
“(He told me that) even at 2am he walks to church. He said he’s not afraid. He would walk to Relani Village from there.”
The State linked Mashego’s brutal killing to the fact he had discovered Ndlovu had cashed in about R717 000 in insurance payouts over the passing of his mother, Audrey Somisa Ndlovu, in June 2013.
Audrey and her son Mashego were some of the five people the State alleged Ndlovu had killed.
The charges Ndlovu faces includes five murders, conspiracy to commit murders, being an obstruction to justice and attempted murders.
It emerged yesterday Ndlovu had also taken out life cover for Mashego. Ndlovu confirmed this and added: “I’m not sure of the exact number, it could be three or two.”
Williams put it to Ndlovu she covered Mashego as her child. “Do you remember that?”
A calm Ndlovu sought to explain there was nothing untoward in covering Mashego as her son.
“I would not dispute that. At the time when I was taking out these policies, I would explain to the agent that this is my sister’s child and the agent would want to know what is the relationship between you and him.
“I would say to the agent he addresses me as his mother and then they would go on to say, ‘no we’ll cover him as your child’.
“It’s unfortunate that now we’re talking about this in court, but at the time of taking the policies it was a different approach altogether.”
Ndlovu denied the charge of ordering a hit on her mother, Maria Mushwana. Lakhiwe Mkhize testified that Ndlovu roped him in to kill Mushwana for an insurance payout.
He said he turned to the police because he could not do it. Mushwana testified in her daughter’s defence two weeks ago, rejecting that Mkhize came to her home.
Ndlovu testified yesterday it was a lie she had tried to kill her mother. “That’s not true.
“I did not commit that offence, even my mother came to court to testify. She said she doesn't know about that. In fact, she first learnt of it here in court,” said Ndlovu.
The case was postponed to October 14.
@BonganiNkosi87
The Star