Slain husband ‘came home with girlfriends, infuriating cop wife’: witness

'Hitman' points to two others allegedly involved in murder

09 November 2021 - 13:58
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The alleged hitman accused of the murder of retired crime intelligence officer Maj-Gen Hendrick Mogoerane has pointed fingers at two of his co-accused. Stock photo.
The alleged hitman accused of the murder of retired crime intelligence officer Maj-Gen Hendrick Mogoerane has pointed fingers at two of his co-accused. Stock photo.
Image: 123RF/SKYCINEMA

“I asked her what should be done to the husband. She said anything, as long as he is dead.”

This was contained in the confession statement made by Mzweshinga Zondo, 51, one of the alleged hitmen accused of the murder of retired senior crime intelligence police officer Maj-Gen Hendrick Mogoerane.

The victim’s wife, former police officer Lt-Col Cordelia Velaphi Mogoerane, 58, is standing trial in the high court in Johannesburg with her son Thabiso Mogoerane, 27.

Mogoerane allegedly hired hitmen to kill her husband in January 2018. The motive for the murder is not known but police suspect it was in part to do with money because a portion of Mogoerane’s large pension was paid out at the time of his death. His body was found inside his car on a roadside in Birchleigh in Kempton Park in Gauteng.

Also in the dock are Thulani Nxumalo, 36, Sanele “Mdeva” Mphuthi, 39, and Ntombizodwa Dlamini, 73, each facing charges of murder and  a charge of conspiracy to commit murder.

Two other accused, Musa Morris Mayisela and Bongiwe Lukhele, have since died. Another accused, Thokozani Zondo, who escaped after being released on bail, is being sought by the police.

On Tuesday, the court heard Mzweshinga Zondo’s confession statement made on June 2 2018, a few days after being arrested for the murder on January 28 that year, in which he suggested that two of the alleged hitmen he had arranged for the job were the ones who killed Mogoerane.

Read out by Col Joseph Mashabane, the police officer who took down the statement, Zondo said Mayisela approached him at his place of work in Vosloorus in November 2017, where he worked as a taxi patroller.

Zondo said Mayisela told him about a traditional healer who had a friend who needed a job done. Mayisela said the job was to eliminate the woman’s husband.

Zondo said he and Mayisela met Dlamini at her home in Wattville, Benoni, and met Velaphi Mogoerane at the house.

Zondo said Mogoerane told them she was not on good terms with her husband, and that he had moved from the main house and was sleeping in an outside room. Zondo said Mogoerane told him her husband came home with girlfriends, “each time different”, and slept with them in the outside room.

Mogoerane told him she was working as a police officer in Thembisa, he said.

“I became scared, thinking it was entrapment. I asked her what should be done to the husband. She said anything, as long as he is dead.”

The plan was allegedly for the woman to drug her husband and the hitmen would kill him. She was adamant he should not be killed inside the house, according to Zondo.

In January 2018, Zondo said Mogoerane called him for the job and said Mayisela was not available as he was attending his sister’s funeral in Lenasia. Zondo said he called Mayisela, who told him to get someone else to assist him with the job.

Zondo asked Thokozani Zondo to assist and asked Lukhele to lend him her vehicle to attend to the matter.

“Myself, Bongiwe [Lukhele] and Thokozani went to the lady’s house in Birchleigh,” he said.

Lukhele remained inside the vehicle, he said. Velaphi Mogoerane met the men at her gate and pointed out her husband inside the house, where he was lying on a couch. The husband woke up and the men ran away. On their drive back to Vosloorus, Mogoerane called them and said her husband was asleep.

Zondo said he left Thokozani at the hostel and met Nxumalo and Mphuthi, who were procured by Mayisela, to assist him with the job.

“Myself, Thulani [Nxumalo], Mdeva [Mphuthi] and Bongiwe [Lukhele] drove back to meet the lady.”

Zondo said he dropped Nxumalo and Mphuthi near Mogoerane’s home while he drove with Lukhele back to Vosloorus.

“When I was about to reach an Engen garage, I received a call from Thulani [Nxumalo] asking where I was. I told him I was at a garage and he told me to stop there.”

Zondo said Nxumalo arrived in the deceased’s white Hyundai Accent vehicle and the two vehicles drove some distance.

“Thulani and Mdeva jumped into our vehicle. They left the Hyundai on the street and we drove to Vosloorus. I asked what happened and Thulani said ‘the job is done’. I left them at Vosloorus and called Mayisela to gave feedback.”

Zondo said Mayisela called him the next day. He said he asked about the two men who did the job and Mayisela said he should not worry about them.

The trial continues.

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