Family confidant shocked when he saw ‘dead’ friend

A man who was promised help to start a business told the Pretoria high court how shocked he was when he saw murder accused Sibusiso Mahlangu alive when he thought he had buried him more than a month earlier.

Chand Themba testified that on February 13 2022 Mahlangu’s wife Lerato told him to come to Mpumalanga to start a car wash business.

Themba had just completed matric and was unemployed. He was also a family friend of the Mahlangus.

The state alleged the couple  killed Sibusiso Sithebe, Lerato’s boyfriend, in January 2002 in their home in Soshanguve and then burnt the body.

Lerato is also accused of passing off Sithebe’s body as her husband’s and claiming more than half a million rand in an insurance payout.

The couple was arrested in April 2023 after Sibisuso was caught driving a stolen car. 

The couple were charged with murder, conspiracy to commit murder and three counts of fraud.

Themba said in court he was sent R1,000 to travel from Kempton Park to Secunda to start the business.

“As I was on the way to Secunda, Lerato called me and told me that I should not be scared by what I will see when I get there,” he said. On arrival in Secunda, he found Sibusiso, a man he thought had died.

“I was shocked and scared to see Sibusiso in the car that picked me up. I got in and we drove to the mall and they [Sibusiso and his friend] brought me a mattress. I told Sibusiso that I wanted to go back to Kempton Park and he told me that there are no taxis and it’s late, I will leave the next day,” Themba said.

“Later that day as [Sibusiso] Mahlangu was in the kitchen, he told me that I should relax. The person we buried was not him and if I had seen the deceased, I would have seen a scar on the [deceased’s] leg. A scar which he does not have. He also told me that his mother knows he is not dead.”

However, Lerato’s lawyer Ledile Mphela said Themba’s testimony was fabricated.

“My client will tell this court that at that time she was at Vista Clinic, a psychiatric hospital, and if she wanted to meet you, she would have said you should come to the hospital not [ go to] Secunda. Your version is not true and you are told what to say because you want to benefit from their house once they are convicted,” Mphela said.

The court previously heard evidence that Sibusiso confessed and that he had seen his friends’ RIP messages on Facebook while he was in hiding.

In the confession made to Lt-Col Philemon Mokgetle in April 2023, he detailed the events of a murder. He did not say who the murdered person was.

Sibusiso said he was at the home he shares with his wife Lerato, enjoying late night drinks when a man barged inside. “I was busy drinking and the door was not locked since I have no fear. While sitting I heard someone opening the door.

“I just stepped up from the sofa and looked at the person; it was a male person. I asked what he wanted, and he answered using vulgar words. We started to fight. I overpowered him and pushed him against the wall; he collapsed. I took the body to the bed and burnt the bed using petrol, and when the fire started, I left the house,” read the confession.