Domestic killed for payout

17 October 2010 - 02:00 By BUYEKEZWA MAKWABE
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The story of her grisly death - she was stabbed 60 times and one of her ears was hacked off - on a Cape Flats highway three years ago is emerging at the Cape Town High Court.

Pamela Kutumane, 45, a widow, of Montana near Gugulethu, and her sister, Thenjiwe Bele, 47, of Sandile Park, Gugulethu, are on trial for the domestic worker's murder.

They face 22 charges, including murder, attempted murder, racketeering and fraud for their involvement in an "enterprise" that allegedly involved taking out funeral policies on people, killing them and pocketing the policy payouts. They pleaded not guilty on all charges.

The court heard Kutumane plotted and paid to have her domestic worker killed. She drove her victim to her death in her black Corsa bakkie .

Magwa was found lying face down next to a highway in Phillipi in September 2007. After the murder, the widow allegedly washed the blood off a 16-year-old hit man's clothes.

Then Kutumane allegedly collected a R60000 payout from Metropolitan Life.

The state says police uncovered the activities of the "enterprise" of Kutumane and her older sister between 2001 and 2007 that led to the death of Magwa, two botched bids to kill asthmatic Khayelitsha resident Lindile Sizani and the death of Lulama Butsaka, 17, one of the two teenagers allegedly hired to carry out the hits.

Butsaka, whom the court heard was last seen with the two sisters, was shot dead just days after Magwa's murder.

The state claims the two women tried to claim up to R90000 fraudulently from insurance companies for Magwa and Butsaka. A third accused, Ayanda Somagaca, Kutumane's lover, was charged with conspiring and attempting to kill Sizani. He pleaded not guilty.

The sisters allegedly took out funeral policies totalling R30000 in the name of Sizani.

This week, the second hit man, Siyabonga Bele, 19-year-old son of Kutumane's cousin, Mickey Bele, took the stand to testify against the trio after turning state witness.

The teen is serving a sentence for his part in Magwa's murder. After pleading guilty, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison, four suspended for five years.

One could hear a pin drop when the teenager testified how his aunt, "Pinkie" Kutumane, was the brains behind the murder of her domestic worker.

He said she produced a sports bag of R100 notes, telling him and Botsaka to feel the money she would give them after they did "a special job".

That job was to kill Sizani, who was from Khayelitsha. To his aunt's rage and dismay, they failed in two attempts - the first to smother him in his bed and the second in hijacking that was botched.

The hitmen failed in one bid to kill Magwa. A witness spotted them before they could attack her in her shack. The second attempt succeeded.

Siyabonga Bele testified: "(She) said they would drop us at the beach and fetch the woman. We would hide behind some bushes. When the car came, I would stage a hijacking. Lulama would have to get the woman from the back (of the bakkie)."

In a brief struggle with Magwa, he grabbed her by the throat and strangled her while his friend stabbed her with a 15cm long knife "until she was not breathing".

A larger knife, stolen from his mother, was too big for Butsaka to use. "He asked for my knife. I got it out of my left pocket, and gave it to him."

Their victim's last words were: "You can rape me - but please do not kill me."

The boys were paid R500 each for killing her. Siyabonga bought a pair of trainers with his loot.

People in the public gallery directed their anger at the accused women staring into space or at their laps. While testifying, Bele rarely made eye contact with his aunts.

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