Tshegofatso Pule’s killer tells court he was ‘greedy’

The man who killed expectant mother Tshegofatso Pule in 2020, said he was driven by greed.

“It was being greedy and being selfish and for the love of money,” Muzikayise Malephane told the High Court in Johannesburg on Tuesday when asked about his motive.

Malephane pleaded guilty to the brutal crime last February but took the stand on Tuesday to testify against the alleged father of Pule’s unborn child, Ntuthuko Shoba, at whose behest he said he was acting.

Pule was found shot in the chest and hanging from a tree in Durban Deep in June 2020. She was eight months pregnant at the time of her death.

Malephane, in his plea explanation last year, said Shoba was married and didn’t want his wife to find out that he had made Pule pregnant.

He pleaded guilty to various charges, including murder, and was sentenced to 20 years in prison in terms of a deal he struck with the state in exchange for testifying against Shoba.

Malephane appeared in the dock on Tuesday with his legs in shackles initially, but Acting Judge Stuart Wilson then ordered these be removed while he testified.

He seemed to become emotional on the stand while recounting how Shoba, whom he knew from school, had first broached the subject of making him complicit in the killing of Pule.

He told the court he was at home in Goudrand when he got a call from Shoba who said he had “a task he wanted me to perform for him” and asked to meet.

“I sent him my location and he came that same day,” he said.

Malephane paused in his testimony and stared at the floor for a few moments, before continuing.

“He told me he wanted me to help him find someone to kill Ms Pule,” Malephane said.

“I told him I would and that I would assist him.”

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He again appeared somewhat overcome with emotion when asked about the day of Pule’s death, saying Shoba had come to his house early that afternoon.

“He told me Ms Pule was going to visit him that evening,” Malephane said before taking a breath and continuing.

“He told me: ‘Today is the day she should die.’”

Earlier on Tuesday, Pule’s cousin, Palesa Senokoane, also took the stand.

Senokoane and Pule were living together at the time of her murder and she told the court her cousin had gone to see Shoba on the evening of her disappearance to discuss plans the pair had to go and buy baby clothes that weekend.

She said Shoba had subsequently told her Pule had left after becoming fed up with him getting repeated calls from his wife.

She told the court Shoba had not contacted her to check up on Pule after she had gone missing, which she found strange.

Shoba’s counsel, Advocate Norman Makhubela, however, put it to Senokoane that his client had repeatedly sent text messages after her disappearance.

The case continues on Wednesday.