Life sentence for man who killed transport operator in Klerksdorp

Thabo Thakampana was sentenced to life imprisonment on Tuesday after his conviction for the murder of a businessman in 2019.

The North West High Court, sitting in the Klerksdorp regional court, also sentenced Thakampana, 29, to:

• 15 years for robbery with aggravating circumstances;
• five years for kidnapping;
• seven years for possession of an unlicensed firearm; and
• three years for possession of ammunition.

The sentences will run concurrently with the life sentence.

Thakampana’s co-accused, Katleho Ramuthalane, 33, pleaded guilty to robbery with aggravating circumstances and kidnapping, and was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment for robbery and five years for kidnapping.

Thakampana pleaded not guilty to all charges and his trial was separated from Ramuthalane’s.

Thakampana, Ramuthalane and a third suspect who is still on the run approached David Mahlapa Sekhola, who operated a public transport service in the area, and asked him to take them from Kanana township in Orkney to the Klerksdorp CBD for R150. Sekhola agreed.

National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Henry Mamothame said in his confession statement, Ramuthalane alleged that Thakampana shot Sekhola in the head and the three started to rob the two other people who were with Sekhola.

Ramuthalane further confessed that he removed Sekhola from the vehicle and kidnapped his friends and drove off to an unknown location. The two kidnapped occupants managed to escape.

The vehicle was traced through its tracking device to a house in Bophelong in Vanderbijlpark in Gauteng.

Thakampana was arrested, while Ramuthalane and the third suspect ran away, but Ramuthalane was apprehended in Kanana the next day.

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