Husband admits to hiring men to kill wife and her friend

A husband of a South African woman, 46 who was gunned down alongside a female friend in October this year has admitted that he masterminded the hit, this publication has learnt.

The Polokwane Magistrate Court heard during the bail applications of the five suspects in the incident, that 57-year-old Thabo Leshabane admitted to a police captain that he hired four hitmen to take out his wife, Makoena Mabusela-Leshabane and her friend 35-year-old Tebogo Mphuti.

The 57-year-old was arrested in a local hospital, and was rumoured to have attempted suicide.

The deceased’s husband did not reveal the reasoning behind orchestrating the crime.

The accused in the dock include Leshabane, Ndondo Buthelezi, Thembelani Dlamini, John Zulu and Bhekimeze Phiyose whose ages range between 20 and 57-years old.

The state is opposing bail in the matter.

They are each facing two counts of murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

One of the detectives in the case, Gerard Kotze was called into the witness box to testify in proceedings, revealing the accused killed the two friends in full view of cameras located at the warehouse Magna Via in Polokwane.

The friends were inside Mabusela-Leshabane’s Mecrcedes Benz SUV at the time of the incident. Kotze revealed Leshabane’s wife was brutally shot at 10 times in the upper body, whilst Mphuti was shot at four times.

Mabusela-Leshabane was a senior aviation finance consultant at the time of her death. Her friend Mphuti was in the construction and property sectors.

Bail continues in the Polokwane Magistrate Court.