‘We want killer to help us fetch her spirit’: Tshegofatso Pule’s family seek closure

The family of slain Tshegofatso Pule seek closure from the convicted murderer by visiting the scene of the murder so they can “fetch her spirit”.

This after Ntuthuko Shoba’s bid to appeal his murder conviction and life sentence was rejected by the Johannesburg high court on Monday.

Busi Mashiane Zuma, Pule’s aunt, said the appeal was the last kicks of a dying horse.

“He’s just trying to get a lesser sentence. As a family we think he was supposed to get double, that was a healthy baby, doctors confirmed. He killed two people, he robbed little Kamano [the unborn baby] [of] life. Why deny the privilege of living?

“It annoys me. I thought I’m done with this. We’re trying to close the chapter. It cut through the wound. I think this guy is evil. Can he let this thing lie?

“We hope [hitman Muzikayise Malephane] will take us to that place and we do our ritual. Just to go there and fetch her spirit; that’s what we believe in. To say, Tshego, baby, we are taking you to your lasting place. We believe she wants us to fetch her. That will bring closure to the family,” said Zuma.

The family intends to approach Malephane for directions to where she was killed to perform the ritual.

Malephane confessed to the crime and implicated Shoba as the mastermind, saying he had wanted Pule killed because he was afraid his fiancée would find out about his affair with her. He is serving a 20-year jail sentence.

Judge Stuart Wilson said he did not make a mistake in reviewing the evidence and sentencing him.

“There’s no room for reasonable doubt on Shoba being guilty. No reason to suspect an appeal court would reject Malephane’s version of events. I had been aware I might make mistakes [so I exercised due caution].

“There is no sufficient reason to grant leave to appeal. It would be an exercise in judicial vanity,” said Wilson.

Shoba, through lawyer Louis Bernard, made the application on Friday. Shoba was jailed for the premeditated murder of Pule, which he orchestrated with Malephane.

Pule, 28, from Soweto, was eight months pregnant when she was shot dead. Her body was found hanging from a tree in the Durban Deep area in Roodepoort in June 2020.

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