Court hears how Pule's lover hatched plan to kill her

June 4 2020 was D-Day for heavily pregnant Tshegofatso Pule; on this day she had to die.

The high court in Johannesburg on Tuesday heard spine-chilling details how her boyfriend, murder accused Ntuthuko Shoba, hatched a plan on how she had to be killed by his own friend on the day she disappeared after visiting him in Florida, Roodepoort, on the West Rand.

Convicted murderer Muzikayise Malephane told the court as he took the stand as the third witness in the trial against Shoba that he and Shoba had on June 4 agreed thatPule had to be finally killed by hanging.

Shoba is charged with murder, conspiracy to commit murder and defeating the ends of justice as he is accused of orchestrating Pule’s killing for R70,000, allegedly in a bid to conceal her pregnancy from his other lover.

Pule’s cousin, Palesa Senokoane, had earlier told the court that Shoba had been the last person known to have been with Pule as he had also been with her when the two cousins spoke on the phone around 9pm the night she disappeared.

Shoba had earlier told the court through his lawyer Norman Makhubela that Pule had left his house and went home out of her own accord after her visit because she was unhappy about regular calls from his partner, Rosetta Moatshe.

Malephane, however, testified that Shoba had in fact visited him earlier on the same day, telling him that he had to kill Pule by hanging her at a bridge in Maraisburg, also in Roodepoort, later that day.

“He told me that Pule was going to visit him that day. He said that day was the day in which Pule was supposed to die. He said she had to die. He told me I had to hang her at the bridge. We agreed on that and then he said he was going to inform me when to go and pick up Pule,” Malephane said.

Malephane, who last year pleaded guilty to killing Pule, turned state witness and is serving a 20-year sentence, told the court that he murdered Pule after Shoba asked him to devise the hit on her.

He said he murdered Pule after Shoba asked him to find someone to eliminate her, which he decided to do on his own out of greed and love for money.

“It was being greedy and just the love of money. He told me to find a person who was going to kill Pule. I told him that I was going to find a person who was going to kill her. Initially he offered me R7,000. The second time [they discussed the hit] he raised the fee to R20,000. I told him that the money he offered was too little. Eventually he offered me R70,000,” he said.

Malephane said previous attempts to kill Pule, including the hatching of a fake job interview, had not worked after she did not show up.

Malephane told the court that he had later gone to Maraisburg to assess and check the bridge in which he had been instructed to hang Pule and found its location to be risky.

“I noticed that it was highly impossible to hang a person there because it was a very busy street,” he said.

Pule was found hanging on a tree in a veld at Durban Deep, also in Roodepoort, with multiple wounds.

Malephane said he had shot Pule before hanging her, and Shoba knew his gun and that it was meant to be used to kill her.

He said he and Shoba had known each other since high school around 2008 and that they had been “going out and drinking” together over the years.

Shoba has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Malephane is expected to return to the stand when the trial continues today.