Limpopo police arrest estranged husband for 'hiring hitmen to kill his wife'

Almost four months after the murder of Sbongile Ditsela in a staged house robbery, police have arrested her estranged husband for allegedly hiring hitmen to kill her.

Limpopo police spokesperson Lt-Col Mamphaswa Seabi said an investigation had established that Alias Kotswana Ditsela, 52, allegedly hired two men to kill Sbongile at their home in Onverwacht, outside Lephalale. He was arrested on Sunday in Ga-Seleka village, Lephalale.

Seabi said Sbongile was killed in June. On the day she died, her estranged husband had come to the house to make arrangements to collect his daughter after school.

“After the domestic worker opened for him, he went straight to the bedroom where he found his wife lying in a pool of blood with multiple stab wounds. Police were called to the scene and upon arrival, they found that the suspects broke the window to gain access to the bedroom without anyone inside the house noticing. The suspects took the deceased's cellphone and car keys. The deceased was found strangled with a rope.”

Seabi said the first suspect, Petrus Sefara, 48, was arrested on October 7 in Ga-Makanye village. Ditsela was arrested on Sunday. The third suspect, Khutjo Lasley Maleka, 40, was arrested in the early hours of Wednesday in Mankweng.

The three will appear in the Lephalale magistrate's court on Friday for a formal bail application. Sefara and Ditsela appeared in court on Tuesday on charges of murder and house robbery. Maleka appeared on Wednesday. 

Limpopo police commissioner Lt-Gen Thembi Hadebe lauded the investigating team for their thorough investigation and thanked community members for the information that led to the arrest of the suspects.

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