The murder of Avhatakali Netshisaulu, son of City Press editor Mathatha Tsedu, was planned, the investigating officer told the Krugersdorp Magistrate’s Court on Friday in opposing bail for Netshisaulu’s widow.
”It was a planned murder,” said Inspector Mokebe Madibo.
Netshisaulu’s body was found in his burnt-out Volkswagen in Muldersdrift, north of Johannesburg, on the night of December 7, after he had gone to visit a business contact.
His widow, Mulalo Unity Sivhidzo (28), and the man he went to visit, Ntambudzeni Mutsenene (29), are among six people charged with his murder.
They conspired to murder Netshisaulu, using hired killers, Madibo told the court.
Reading from a confession by Mutsenene, he said this was because Sivhidzo wanted to inherit from her husband, who was having an affair.
They were married out of community of property. ”She said she wanted her husband killed so that she can inherit all his belongings.”
Sivhidzo had asked for Mutsenene’s help and each of them found two killers.
In Sivhidzo’s contested confession, also read to court by Madibo, she said Mutsenene had offered to kill her husband.
”I told Ntambu [Mutsenene] that my husband was cheating on me and I was afraid that he will leave me. There was no love in the house and we were married out of community of property.
”Ntambu suggested we must kill my husband. I was shocked.”
Madibo described Sivhidzo’s behaviour on the night of the murder as suspicious.
He told the court her husband phoned her for help, saying he was in Honeydew. She called various people, including Mutsenene, and asked for his address in Honeydew.
She and a friend then went to Mutsenene’s home, but drove past without stopping. Instead, they went to Muldersdrift where Netshisaulu’s burned out car was found.
She arrived while firemen were putting out the blaze.
Madibo told a packed courtroom that Netshisaulu’s body, found in the boot of his car, was ”burned beyond recognition”.
The lower parts of his arms and legs were missing and his face was reduced to ”only the bones”.
He testified that when Sivhidzo reached the scene and saw the unrecognisable body, she started screaming: ”I don’t have a husband anymore”.
Earlier Sivhidzo handed an affidavit to court denying involvement in the murder.
She submitted that she had confessed to hiring Mutsenene to kill her husband after police assaulted her. Neither she nor Netshisaulu had insurance, she added.
Her lawyer, Ace Ndou, asked the court to order police to hand over various documents — including her statement and a doctor’s report on her injuries — claiming these would back up Sivhidzo’s story. — Sapa