Nonhlanhla Mbhele, the woman who allegedly hired a hitman to kill her sister because she wanted insurance money, appeared at the Umlazi Magistrates Court where she is facing three counts of murder.Her case was postponed until April 2023.  A well known church goer ,Mbhele was arrested in 2020 because she wanted to claim R100 000 insurance after Suzan Xolo, her sister, died.

SHOT MORE THAN 12 TIMES

Xolo who was gunned down by unknown suspects on her way to work. She was shot more than 12 times and was pronounced dead at the scene in July 2019. Mbhele's other sister Khumbuzile said that they were now living in fear after she found out she was also on the hit list. "The postponement of this case means that our lives are in danger. We are scared and we don't know what to expect because the allegations about my sister are hard to believe that she wanted to kill me as well for money. We can't even believe that she masterminded all this. It hard to believe but we got the confirmation from her second husband when he went and did a protection order against her. The husband told us that he found out that Nonhlanhla hired people  Durban to go and kill him in their home in Johannesburg. She is not normal and I think she must be evaluated if she is right upstairs. Our mother used to ask her if she was behind all the murders that were happening but she denied everything. My mother has a spiritual gift and shortly after the death of my sister and my husband she asked her if she was behind the killings as she kept having visions about my sister having blood in her hands every time she went to sleep. My mother ended believing her but we knew that she was not lying,' she said.

SAVED BY A CHILD

Khumbuzile further said a hitman told her that he followed her for almost the whole year but couldn't kill her because she was always walking with her baby."My baby became my ancestor that protected me. I used to go with my baby everywhere I go. The hitman said that he felt sorry for the child and decided to tell my sister that he was unable to kill me as the child will look him in the eye when he kills me. That is how I survived. I asked my sister when she called few days after her arrest , she became angry and swore at me,' she said. Mbhele was the one who spoke on behalf of the family as she is the eldest and expressed shock at the murder of her sister and described her as a good person.She is said to have offered her family during the funeral arrangements R25 000 for the burial of her sister.

HITMAN CONFESSES

Mbhele was arrested, with a man whose name has been withheld, and faces three counts of murder, for the murder of her sister, her brother-in-law Thulani Cele, who was also shot in the same way as Xolo in April  2020 and her friend's child Thamsanqa Mthembu, who was also shot dead in a hail of bullet in July 2020. Mbhele lost her husband, who was allegedly shot dead by unknown individuals in 2009 and returned home with her children. She told her family that she was earning a living from her husband's monthly income. It is said that she was arrested after hitman complained that he was tired of murdering people and Mbhele would not pay him.The family further told Zimoja that they now believe that she is the one who killed her first husband who was also shot dead in a mysterious wayback in 2009. That case hasn't been resolved until now.