‘Hitman’ tells court why he didn’t kill cop’s husband

Rosemary Ndlovu and fellow former police officer Nomsa Mudau in the Kempton Park regional court. They are accused of conspiring to kill Mudau’s husband.
Image: Veli Nhlapo

An alleged hitman has testified that when Rosemary Ndlovu and another policewoman Nomsa Mudau recruited him into killing Mudau’s husband, he did not report them to authorities because they were police officers themselves, and he didn’t know who to trust.

Testifying at the Kempton Park magistrate’s court, Jabulani Mtshali of Tembisa said he did not approach the police about the murder plot because he didn’t know how connected they were to Ndlovu and Mudau.

“As I could not find the one policeman I trust, I went to my induna [chief] at the hostel to ask for advice to ask what to do with the information I had received. I would have gone to another police station but it was too far and I didn’t have money because I wasn’t working.”

Ndlovu and Mudau are on trial for allegedly plotting to murder the latter’s husband for an insurance payout. Allegations are that Mudau was going to get a R3m insurance payout should the plot to kill her husband succeed. 

Both the women are former police officers. While Ndlovu was based at Tembisa SAPS, Mudau worked at Norkem Park.

According to the charge sheet, in 2018 Ndlovu and Mudau conspired with Mtshali to kill Mudau ’s husband. They allegedly procured the services of Mtshali, Lakhiwe Mkhize and Vincent Kunene. It further says Ndlovu is the one who referred the three to Mudau.

Asked during cross examination whether he had received a call from Mkhize about Mudau, he said: “I got a call from Mkhize who informed me that he has called Mrs Mudau and he got the telephone numbers from Rosemary.”

While he had said he did not want to kill Mudau  and rather wanted justice, the pair’s lawyer M Malutane asked him why he kept attending the meetings about the murder plot and kept getting money from Mudau, Mtshali responded: “It’s not that I enjoyed receiving that money. The reason was that I wanted to do justice so that she doesn’t succeed in killing her husband.

“It’s not that I was extorting Mudau for money but I only kept going to meet with her so that she accept that we were doing the job, even though in my heart I knew that we weren’t going to kill him.”

When questioned whether they ever had an opportunity to kill Mr Mudau, he said there was a day they visited the home and had a chance to do so. "If we were the killers, then yes that day when Mudau took us to her home, would have been the specific day because we knew the colour of the BMW her husband was driving, where he lived and at what times he would be coming in or out.”

Ndlovu is serving life sentences for orchestrating the murders of six family members while Mudau was fired from her job and her husband divorced her when the murder plot was revealed.

The matter is back in court on December 11.

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