Durban drug dealer gets three life terms for murdering business associates

The Durban high court has sentenced a whoonga drug dealer to three life terms for killing his business associates in April 2019.

Mfundo Shabalala, 33, had operated his business from Shongweni Dam, west of Durban.

He killed Senzo Dladla and two of his cousins, Siyabonga and Sibongiseni Shabalala. According to a court indictment, Shabalala suspected Dladla had taken some of his profits.

Shabalala hatched a plan to burn the three while they were sleeping at their home.

On the fateful day he enlisted a friend to get petrol he would later use to set his associates alight.

A post-mortem confirmed the cause of their deaths was smoke inhalation and burns.

Shabalala, who is father of a two-year-old child, spent two and a half years awaiting trial.

In his defence, Legal Aid lawyer Thiagaraj Pillay argued his client had prospects of rehabilitation due to his youth.

Shabalala had never had an opportunity to know his father, and his mother died when he was eight. He was brought up by his aunt and uncle. He previously held a job as a security guard.

Handing down sentence, acting high court judge Nomfundo Sipunzi found the accused had not shown remorse for his actions.

“The way the accused planned the murders was most cruel and showed no mercy and disregard of human life.”

She said the victims' families had been devastated. The murders also caused anguish and pain for community members who had tried in vain to extinguish the blaze in which the three died.

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