Vlakfontein murder accused Ernest Mabaso commits suicide

One of the two suspects in the murder of seven members of the Khoza family committed suicide this morning in his police cell this morning, the police have confirmed.

He and his co-accused were meant to appear in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court to continue their bail application.

Fita Khupe, 61, and Vusi Mabaso, 27, were arrested and not granted bail over December after police sergeant Banele Ndlovu told the two men’s bail hearing it would be a danger to society if they would be granted bail.

The bodies of three adults and four children were found buried under a pile of sand in October 2018.

Officers responded to a complaint from a community member after a resident reported a stench coming from the house. According to police, officers found a pile of sand in the bedroom where a woman and three children were found buried underneath the sand.

“Police proceeded to a backroom in the same yard where three more bodies, two female adults and a child, were discovered, and also buried beneath sand,” said the police’s Mavela Masondo.

Previously, Mabaso, who also faced three additional charges of rape, had asked the court if he could be moved from the Johannesburg Central police station’s holding cells as he had been receiving threats from his co-accused. He was then moved to Krugersdorp Prison.

Mabaso had claimed the killings were a revenge attack on the Khoza family by Khupe.

The court heard that some of the victims were raped and bludgeoned with a hammer, or were suffocated.

The Protea Magistrate’s Court heard a claim last year from Mabaso that he was allegedly forced to commit the crimes by the older accused, Khupe.

Mabaso told the court he was forced by Khupe to rape the children before he killed them. He pleaded not guilty to all the charges and said his family could afford R5,000 bail.

A complicated past

Mabaso was born in Nelspruit, Mpumalanga, and held a diploma in teaching, obtained from the University of North-West in 2012. The court heard that he was not employed at the time of his arrest.

In his affidavit read during the bail application, Mabaso said: “In 2015, whilst I was doing my practical training in Rawana Secondary school in Hlabane, I was renting a room near a school. My landlord and other unknown people drugged me and kidnapped me and I woke up in Cape Town. Two men then approached me in the dark room I was in and informed me that there was a job they wanted me to do in Johannesburg,” said Mabaso.

He said he started working for the unknown men and packed drugs for them. After a while, he was told they had the information they needed for the Johannesburg job.

They said if he involved the police, he would be killed and nothing would be done to them because they were working with the police.

“They forced me to use the name of Sibusiso Ernest Khoza for the purpose of the job, and they were telling me all that I was suppose to do. I then created a Facebook account with the name of Sibusiso and invited Ne and Nomfundo Khoza. Only Sne accepted my friend request.”

Mabaso said that, under the pretence of being a member of the Khoza family, he said started communicating with Sne on WhatsApp and she added him to the family group chat. They said he should come and visit.

“The people in Cape Town then informed me that I should go to Johannesburg and kill them. I refused to do so [and] they threatened me, and I told them that I was just a teacher – I have never killed anyone. I decide to steal the car and drove back home but I was arrested because the car was reported stolen while I was still in King William’s Town in Eastern Cape.”

Mabaso told the court how, after he was released from prison, the same people tracked him down and told him he still had to complete the job in Johannesburg and threatened to kill him if he betrayed them.

He said after he was transported to Johannesburg, he met Khupe, who told him to gain the trust of the Khoza family and not to forget that he was there to kill the family.

He said after a few months Khupe told him that he would be travelling to Zimbabwe and he directed him on how to kill the Khoza family. Mabaso told the court that Khupe gave him a hammer.

“Khupe said I should strike them twice with the hammer so that they won’t make any noise.”

He said Khupe called him to ask if he had completed the job and asked if he had raped the three women before killing them. Mabaso said he agreed, even though he knew he did not.

Mabaso said afterwards he stole a bank card and withdrew money so he could flee to Nelspruit. He was arrested at his grandmother’s house.

“I admit that I committed the violence against the deceased. I, however, deny that I had intentions. I was forced and threatened by Khupe and I was scared for my life,” said Mabaso.

(Compiled by Charles Cilliers and Daniel Friedman. Additional reporting by ANA)