Dumi Masilela killed by hijackers who 'knew him, car'

09 October 2017 - 07:12 By NALEDI SHANGE
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Dumi Masilela was known by his hijackers.
Dumi Masilela was known by his hijackers.
Image: Tsheko Kabasia. © Sowetan

Rhythm City actor Dumi Masilela was no stranger to the men who shot him dead in an attempted hijacking in Tembisa two months ago.

This startling information was in the written confession of Sifundo Nkosi, one of the men accused of his murder, in his bail application at the Benoni Magistrate's Court last week.

"They knew the vehicle and knew Masilela," magistrate Elmari Schutte said as she paraphrased parts of the confession before her.

Nkosi had told police they "usually don't hijack vehicles of people they knew" but on that day, it was different.

"I drove until I was parallel to Dumisani's car. Solly shouted and told me to stop and I stopped," Nkosi's confession read.

Masilela and a friend were seated in his Golf 7 vehicle. Two of the six gangsters were meant to have gone for Masilela's vehicle but only Khumbudzo Solomon Mukhuba, known as Solly, got out. The door the other gunman was meant to use was secured by a child lock.

Nkosi said Mukhuba approached the car and fired shots into Masilela's car and then ran back to the Jeep with his accomplices.

A wounded Masilela had then sped off. He later died at the Tembisa Hospital.

The Jeep that the attackers were travelling in had been hijacked in Daveyton earlier.

At the time of Masilela's shooting, the Jeep's owner, Trevor Shabangu, was lying in the back seat of the vehicle and had heard the gunshot ringing. He was later released.

Nkosi, however, made a U-turn on his confession in court, alleging the police had beaten it out of him.

He said he was not present when the Jeep was hijacked in Daveyton but he was later picked up by the hijackers from a tavern in Tembisa.

Delivering her verdict on his bail application, Schutte seemingly did not believe Nkosi's new version.

The magistrate denied him bail.

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