Well-known Pietermaritzburg businesswoman found murdered in her car

Pietermaritzburg is reeling after the murder of well-known socialite and businesswoman Kavitha Nerputh on Monday night.

Nerputh was strangled with a cellphone charger cable. Her body was found in her car, which was parked at Alexandra Park.

KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson Col Thembeka Mbele said Alexandra police were investigating  a murder case that was opened after a woman’s body was found inside a motor vehicle in Alexandra Road, Scottsville, at 7.30pm.

“It is suspected that the 41-year-old woman was strangled as she was found inside the vehicle with all doors locked. The police broke the back door of the vehicle to remove the body,” she said.

Nerputh became a social media hit in 2017 when she threw her then four-year-old daughter a R100,000 carnival-theme birthday party.

She was later embroiled in a two-year court battle to stop a former friend from harassing her on social media.

She won the case in March last year when the court ordered her former friend to stay away from her and granted Nerputh's request for a protection order.

Nerputh used social media to market her company, which sold a weight-loss product called Foreverwell Tea.

Tributes poured in on social media on Wednesday morning, with many of her friends and clients describing her as a dynamic, larger-than-life woman, who lived for her children.