South African court hands 20-year prison sentence to killer of pregnant J’burg-based beauty products representative, Tshegofatso Pule, in a murder-for-hire plot

Muzikayise Malephane, who says the father of Tshegofatso Pule’s unborn child had offered him $4,775 to murder her, Friday pled guilty to the murder of Pule and her unborn daughter

Malephane, 31, Friday was sentenced to serve 20 years behind bars for the June 2020 murder after his guilty plea

Tshegofatso Pule, 28, a J’burg-based beauty products representative was pregnant when she was murdered during the summer

Malephane was convicted of killing Tshegofatso Pule in the high court in Johannesburg on Friday and was jailed for 20 years for murder

He also received additional five-year term each, for three other charges to be served concurrently with the murder term

Malephane who was facing a minimum life sentence entered a guilty plea in exchange for a lighter sentence

He told the court that he was approached by Pule’s ex-lover on several occasions to kill her‚ because he did not want his wife to learn of the pregnancy

The man initially offered $476 for the hit, then $1,364 which Melaphane still considered was inadequte for the assassination

After striking a bargain at $4,775 [R70,000], he shot Pule and hung her, Melaphane said

Pule’s 32-year-old married lover, Ntuthuko Shoba, and alleged murder mastermind was arrested Thursday at his home in Florida, on the West Rand

He is scheduled to appear in the Roodepoort Magistrate’s Court on Feb 22

Muzikayise Malephane, who says the father of Tshegofatso Pule’s unborn child had offered him R70,000 to murder her, was on Friday jailed for 20 years.
Pule, a 28-year-old Johannesburg-based beauty products representative, was eight months pregnant when she was killed in June last year.
A former boyfriend of Tshegofatso Pule allegedly hired a man to murder her to hide her pregnancy from his wife, the South Gauteng High Court heard during a plea deal on Friday.
On Thursday June 4, 2020 Pule told her family she was going to meet Ntuthuko Shoba, her boyfriend and the father of the baby she was due to deliver in July, to buy baby clothes.
Later she sent them a text message saying she and Shoba had argued and she was coming home.

Muzikayise Malephane was convicted of killing Tshegofatso Pule in the high court in Johannesburg on February 19 2021. He pleaded guilty to charges including murder, obstruction of justice and unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng handed Muzikayise Malephane a 20 year-sentence for murder.
He was also sentenced to five years for defeating the ends of justice and five years for the possession of an illegal firearm and ammunition.

Friends and family of brutally murdered Tshegofatso Pule said their final farewells to her on Thursday

28-year-old Pule was pregnant at the time of her death in June 2020.
Police said at the time that she had been found with a stab wound in her chest.
Her bloodstained body was discovered hanging from a tree in the Durban Deep area of Roodepoort, four days after she had last been seen.
Her unborn child was a daughter.

Malephane who was facing a minimum life sentence on Friday entered a guilty plea in the South Gauteng high court.
He was sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment for murder and five years for obstructing justice, possession of an unlicensed firearm and possession of ammunition. The five-year sentence will be served concurrently.
Tshegofatso Pule from Soweto, was eight months pregnant when she was found hanging from a tree in an open veld in Roodepoort last June
Police said she had a stab wound to her chest.
Pule, 28, allegedly went missing after she left her Soweto home to meet with her boyfriend, who stays in Florida lake, to go buy clothes for her unborn baby on June 4, 2020

That was the last time her family saw her alive. Her baby shower had already been organised for June 27.
Pule was last seen leaving her boyfriend’s home. Malephane, 31, was arrested while travelling back to Gauteng from Mpumalanga. The court heard that the convict intended to turn State witness against the former lover.

Malephane pled guilty on Friday morning after he and his legal team had reached a plea bargain with the state. For his co-operation, he received a lighter sentence in exchange. His plea agreement was read out in court by his defense attorney,
Malephane told the court that he was approached by Pule’s ex-lover on several occasions to kill her‚ as the man did not want his wife to learn of his lover’s pregnancy.

The confessed killer told the court that the victim’s lover had first offered him $476 for the hit, but he declined. The man later offered him $1.364, but he still felt the amount was inadequte for the assassination. He only agreed after the contract was raised to $4,775 [R70,000].
Malephane said he had shot Pule and hung her.
Judge Ratha Mokgoatleng said, given Malephane’s willingness to testify against the “so-called mastermind”, he saw no reason not to deviate from the prescribed minimum sentence for murder, which is life.
Meanwhile, the married lover and alleged mastermind of Pule’s murder has been arrested.
Gauteng police spokesperson Brigadier Mathapelo Peters confirmed that 32-year-old Ntuthuko Shoba, was arrested at his home in Florida, on the West Rand, on Thursday evening.
He is expected to appear in the Roodepoort Magistrate’s Court on February 22.