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Mulalo SIVHIDZHO

 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 
 
 
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics: Parricide - Murder for hire - To inherit
Number of victims: 1
Date of murder: December 7, 2006
Date of arrest: 3 weeks later
Date of birth: 1977
Victim profile: Avhatakali Netshisaulu, 31 (her husband)
Method of murder: Burned alive in the boot of his car
Location: Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
Status: Sentenced to life in prison on February 28, 2011
 
 
 
 
 
 

photo gallery

 
 
 
 
 
 

Mulalo Sivhidzho refused leave to appeal

By Olebogeng Molatlhwa - Sowetanlive.co.za

March 15, 2011

CONVICTED murderer Mulalo Sivhidzho will not be able to appeal the life sentence handed to her for the murder of her husband.

Sivhidzho and her two co-accused, Ntambudzeni Matsenene and Arnold Sello, yesterday had their applications for leave to appeal their various convictions and sentences dismissed by Johannesburg high court acting Judge Naren Pandya.

Pandya told the trio's lawyers that their clients had sought but failed to show that there existed exceptional circumstances calling for the court's judgment and sentence to be set aside.

Sivhidzho's lawyer, Anneline Roestoff, argued that the court had erred in convicting her client based largely on circumstantial evidence.

"This is owing to the fact that there is circumstantial evidence about which another court might arrive at a different conclusion," Roestoff argued.

But Pandya ruled that "the facts and evidence against applicant number three (Sivhidzho) were overwhelming".

"The court found that the statement made by her amounted to a confession," Pandya ruled.

"It is my view that there is no prospect of another court coming to a different conclusion. So the applicant's application for leave to appeal is dismissed."

Sivhidzho's assertion that her case might have been prejudiced after cross-examination of a witness by her then lawyer Christo Meiring was "curtailed", was also dismissed on the grounds that Meiring was found to be "aggressive" towards witnesses, with many allegedly registering their dissatisfaction at his conduct.

Sivhidzho's husband of six months, Avhatakali Netshisaulu, was kidnapped, robbed and burnt alive while locked in the boot of his car on December 7 2006.

She was found guilty on December 7 last year.

 
 

Mastermind Mulalo Sivhidzho Gets Life

By Mandla Mthembu - Menabuse.l1fe.co.za

March 2, 2011

Clearly the croud felt no sympathy for Mulalo Sivhidzho (33) when she was led away to start a life in prison on Monday (28-02-2011).

” Mulalo, go well, go well, you deserve to be in jail,” the croud shouted. The daughter-in-law of former City Press editor-in-chief Mathatha Tsedu was sentenced to life imprisonment by Judge Naren Pandya in the South Gauteng High Court on monday. She was found guilty of the murder of her husband Avhatakali Netshisaulu (31) five years ago. The people in the gallery clapped their hands in approval as the judge passed the sentence on Mulalo.

Mulalo remained calm and showed no reaction when her parents and family members hugged her before she went to the cells. She has always maintained that she was innocent and showed no remorse. Tsedu welcomed the sentence but said it will not bring his son back.

The mother of the deceased Dzudzanani Netshisaulu also said it would take time before she could come to terms with the death of her son but welcomed the sentence. Judge Pandya described the murder as brutal. “The murder was committed in a brutal manner. He was burnt alive. Petrol was poured over his car and he was cremated alive. Mulalo was the mastermind of the crime,” the judge said.

Mulalo’s co-accused, Nthabudzeni Matsenene (34) and Arnold Sello (31) were also given life sentences for their role in the murder. They were all sentenced to five years for kidnapping and three years for malicious damage to property.

Sello was also given 15 years imprisonment for robbery with aggravating cicumstances.

 
 

Widow only wed for money, court told

By Lebogang Seale - Iol.co.za

February 25, 2011

Mulalo Sivhidzho used her chartered accountant husband for his money and property.

The mother of slain accountant Avhatakali Netshisaulu said this to a social worker who compiled a probation report into the personal circumstances and background of Sivhidzho’s co-murderers, Ntabudzeni Matzhenene and Sello Johannes Arnold.

Social worker Annette Vergeer told the Johannesburg High Court that Avhatakali’s mother, Dzudzanani Netshisaulu, had said: “She (Sivhidzho) planned to kill him after he had bought her a car and a house.

“There is not a day that goes by that she does not think of the brutal manner in which her son was killed,” Vergeer added.

Sivhidzho and her co-murderers were convicted for killing Avhatakali on December 7 last year – four years to the day of the murder.

In their probation reports, Matzhenene and Arnold indicated they would appeal the guilty verdict.

Avhatakali’s father, Mathatha Tsedu, the head of Media24’s journalism academy, said he would never come to terms with the brutal manner in which his son was slain.

“The fact that neither of them (murderers) had ever shown any remorse has made this even more devastating and hurtful.”

Earlier, the State sought to rebuff a submission by Dr Eon Sonnekus, a forensic criminologist, who described Sivhidzho as a “gentle soul” and not “a violent and vindictive assassin”.

But state prosecutor Maro Papachristoforou disputed this, showing Sonnekus the photographs depicting the aftermath of Netshisaulu’s fiery death, including his charred remains in his car’s boot.

“Would you argue that it’s quite a heinous sight… that the deceased died a very cruel and extremely violent and painful death? Would you agree that the killers… could be described as violent, horrible and vindictive,” she asked, to which Sonnekus replied in the affirmative.

Asked how Sivhidzho’s alleged mental disorders influenced her to commit the crime, Sonnekus said they were a contributory factor.

Judge Naren Pandya interjected, asking if Sonnekus was “suggesting Sivhidzho didn’t know what she was doing”.

Sonnekus replied in the affirmative.

Papachristoforou sought to discredit Sonnekus, arguing that he was not qualified to give “factual information” on issues like traumatic stress and mental imbalances. This, she said, was because he was not a qualified clinical psychologist or psychiatrist.

She added that his version was based on “presumptions” and “prejudiced” relatives of Sivhidzho.

To back this, she called Professor Gerald Labuschagne, a commander in the SA Police Service’s investigative psychology unit, to the witness stand.

Labuschagne said Sonnekus was not allowed to make diagnoses on issues like clinical psychology and psychiatrist, as prescribed by the Health Professions Council Act.

“The fact that there are overlaps doesn’t make you an expert,” said Labuschagne.

He added there was no indication that these post-traumatic events left any lasting residue on Sivhidzho’s life.

 
 

Village can't believe pastor's child did it

By Frank Maponya and Chester Makana - Sowetanlive.co.za

December 8, 2010

MULALO Sivhidzho's conviction for the murder of her husband Avhatakali Netshisaulu has shocked residents of the village she comes from.

The child of a pastor, most of the villagers of Luvhimbi village outside Thohoyandou in Limpopo, are still shocked by her involvement in the murder of her husband.

Sivhidzho is the daughter of Nthathedzeni Sivhidzho, a Lutheran Church pastor in the village, who also works as a clerk at one of the government buildings in Sibasa. He is married to Takalani, who works as a clerk in the department of public works, also in Sibasa.

The couple is the most respected and trusted in the village, such that most villagers rely on them for advice.

The news of Sivhidzho's conviction has divided villagers, with some describing her as a "good and intelligent person".

Perhaps the respect the villagers have for her father is what makes it difficult for them to believe she could have had a hand in her husband's murder.

Villagers yesterday described how she was a pillar of strength to the youth in the village.

A neighbour who asked for anonymity said: "Mulalo played a big role in the introduction of different sporting codes in the area, urging the youth to stay out of crime. But we are still shocked to learn that she was involved in the murder of her husband."

Another villager said Sivhidzho was difficult to associate with. "She used to cut a lone figure in the village whenever she was around, and it was difficult for us to befriend her.

"She would attend church whenever she was home, but one would never know what type of a person she was."

The villagers said they only came to know Netshisaulu at their wedding, some time in 2005, and that was the last time they saw him alive.

Sivhidzho was last seen officiating at her cousin's wedding in the village last December.

 
 

Mulalo Sivhidzho found guilty of murder

By Dudu Dube - Sowetanlive.co.za

December 8, 2010

EXACTLY four years after Avhatakali Netshisaulu was brutally killed, his wife was found guilty of his murder.

Netshisaulu was kidnapped, robbed and burnt alive while locked inside the boot of his car on December 7 2006.

Yesterday, Johannesburg high court's Judge Naren Pandya found that Sivhidzho had hired her co-accused Ntabudzeni Matzhenene to recruit three men to kill her husband.

"There is no other conclusion but that she planned a plot with her co-accused to kill the deceased," the judge said.

"You have been found guilty of murder, kidnapping and malicious damage to property."

The three killers had pleaded not guilty on all charges but the judge found that witnesses had corroborated each other in the testimonies against them.

The judge said Sivhidzho's 10-year-old sister-in-law and a family friend who drove them around when she realised her husband had been kidnapped had testified truthfully.

They both said Sivhidzho had directed them straight to the scene where the car was found burning.

"It is clear she gave direction as to where to go, obviously she knew where her husband had been killed," he said.

Judge Pandya also admitted evidence of firefighters who attended the scene and later testified that Sivhidzho had screamed "my husband is in the boot, look in the boot".

The judge then dismissed Sivhidzho's application to have her bail extended.

 
 

Mulalo confessed to killing her husband

By Dudu Dube - Sowetanlive.co.za

December 2, 2010

MULALO Sivhidzho confessed to killing her husband in free and sober mind, a Johannesburg high court judge said yesterday.

Judge Naren Pandya said it was not reasonably possibly true that Sivhidzho had been tortured by the police and forced to confess.

"It is unlikely for injuries suffered during torture not to be visible to the doctor.

"The defence argued that she had bruises on her wrists, but the doctor testified that the bruises might have been caused by handcuffs," the judge said.

Sivhidzho allegedly paid her husband's friend, Ntambudzeni Matzhenene, and co-accused Sello Arnold to kill her husband Avhatakali Netshisaulu in 2006.

He was killed, bundled into the boot of his car and burnt.

He was on his way to a business meeting with Matzhenene.

She was arrested three weeks later and confessed, according to the police.

Judge Pandya found that Colonel Primrose Ngcobo, the police officer who took down the confession, had been truthful in saying Sivhidzho had waived her right to a lawyer.

"It is reasonable to assume that a well-educated and talented person such as the accused would realise what the consequences would be when the right to remain silent is waived in any case. Her rights were explained to her and there is no indication that she asked for clearance," the judge said.

He went on to say that after being arrested Sivhidzho asked her father-in-law (former City Press editor) Mathatha Tsedu to organise a lawyer for her court appearance.

"It must be borne in mind that at the time of making the statement, no lawyer had been appointed. She only asked for a lawyer afterwards," said the judge.

In her confession Sivhidzho wrote that Matzhenene had approached her with the idea of killing her husband after she told him he was cheating on her.

"I was shocked and asked him what would happen. He said no one would know.

"He phoned me again in November (2006) and said everything was ready.

"On Thursday my husband left the house to meet Ntambudzeni. He phoned 15 minutes later, saying he was being followed by two cars. I told him to come back.

"Then Ntambudzeni sent me an SMS, and I knew they had got him," she said in the confession.

Judge Pandya admitted the statement as evidence, saying the state had proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Sivhidzho had not been tortured.

"Material of the accused's evidence was contradictory. She tried to divert from answering direct questions. Her evidence of torture is rejected," he said.

Sivhidzho, Arnold and Matzhenene have all pleaded not guilty to murder, kidnapping and damage to property.

 
 

'Widow left shop to meet killers'

By Dudu Dube - Sowetanlive.co.za

July 30, 2010

A mysterious shopping trolley, shopping bags that disappeared and a 10-year-old's vivid memory support the state's case that Mulalo Sivhidzho went missing from the Northgate shopping mall on the night her husband was killed.

She allegedly disappeared to make final arrangements with Avhatakali Netshisaulu's killers.

State prosecutor Maro Pappachristoforou said yesterday there was a probability that when Sivhidzho disappeared for two hours, leaving her mother-in-law Dzu-dzanani Netshisaulu and her 10-year-old daughter stranded, she took her grocery bags to the car with her and left them in the car.

Sivhidzho and her co-accused, Tabudzeni Matzhenene and Arnold Sello, are on trial for the murder of Avhatakali, 31, who was ambushed and bundled into the boot of his car before it was set alight.

The 10-year-old testified that after buying groceries at Pick n Pay she, her mother and Sivhidzho went to Edgars to buy clothes.

She said Sivhidzho disappeared and returned after two hours, without the bags she was carrying. The girl said when they arrived home later the grocery bags were in the car.

"The only probability is that she took the bags with her and put them in the car when she went to see the killers at a nearby Caltex garage," Pappachristoforou said.

She said this was contrary to Sivhidzho's version that she never left Edgars and that she was in the fitting rooms trying on clothes.

Pappachristoforou said when Sivhidzho disappeared from the mall to "meet" her husband's killers, she made the mistake of leaving the two behind.

 
 

Mulalo Sivhidzho's 'evil deeds'

By Dudu Dube - Sowetanlive.co.za

July 29, 2010

THE text message Mulalo Sivhidzho sent to her father-in-law after her husband's funeral was a partial confession to her evil deed, the Johannesburg high court has heard.

Part of the text message read: "Part one has passed now we have to go to part two, the material part, materials put us Christians into temptations and do evil things to get materials of this world.

"I trust you but the question is do you trust me, sometimes I feel like you are my real father, you are everything to me".

This message was sent by Sivhidzho to Mathatha Tsedu, the father of her husband Avhatakali Netshisaulu who had just been buried in Venda in December 2006.

Netshisaulu was hijacked and burnt alive in the boot of his car, allegedly by Sello Arnold and about six other men who had allegedly been hired by Sivhidzho.

His charred remains were found in Honeydew about an hour after he called his wife to say he was being followed by two cars. He was on his way to meet Ntabudzeni Matzhenene, also an accused in the case.

State prosecutor Maro Pappachristoforou, in her closing argument, said that knowing she had conspired to kill her husband, Sivhidzho was overwhelmed with guilt and needed to unload.

"Why did she send Tsedu such a cryptic and religious statement? Who are these Christians who will be tempted by material things to do evil things?

"If one had to apply one's mind to all the facts and keep her co-accused's statements in mind, it would not be very difficult to see that she was in all probability overwhelmed with guilt and was partially confessing her evil deed," she argued.

The prosecutor went on to say that her submissions were corroborated by Sivhidzho's co-accused Ma-tzhenene's warning statement in which he said she told him she "wanted her husband dead so she could inherit all his belongings, she wanted to own it all alone".

But Sivhidzho's explanation for sending the SMS was that she was concerned about the squabble between the Tsedus and the Netshisaulus over the burial process.

She said she had hoped Tsedu would read between the lines in order to get what she meant.

Pappachristoforou described Sivhidzho's explanation as utter nonsense.

 
 

Sivhidzho 'called' husband's killers

By Dudu Dube - Sowetanlive.co.za

July 28, 2010

MULALO Sivhidzho called her husband's killers to confirm they had got him before calling the police and going to search for him, the state suggests.

A 38-second phone conversation is reflected from Sivhidzho's house phone to her husband's cellphone almost 10 minutes after he called her to say he was being followed by two cars.

This is contrary to Sivhidzho's version that the last time she spoke to her husband, Avhatakali Netshisaulu, was when he called to say he was being followed.

She said all the calls she attempted to make afterwards went to voicemail.

But, a cellphone record expert testified that there was a conversation and that if it had gone to voicemail there would be no reflection of call duration.

Referring to this evidence, prosecutor Maro Pappachristoforou suggested in her closing argument that Sivhidzho was talking to one of the killers, who were now in possession of Netshisaulu's cellphone.

"In all probability, she was talking to one of the killers to ensure that they had killed him," she said.

Sivhidzho allegedly hired co-accused Ntabudzeni Matzhenene and Sello Arnold to hijack, rob and burn her husband alive inside the boot of his car in December 2007. He was on his way to meet Matzhenene in Honeydew when he was killed.

Pappachristoforou also pointed out that network signals proved that Matzhenene never left his home to meet the deceased. It shows that all the calls he made and received through his cellphone that night were at his shack in Zandspruit.

She also argued that Sivhidzho's claim that she had never met Arnold was a blatant lie.

 
 

'How did Mulalo know it was his car?'

By Dudu Dube - Sowetanlive.co.za

July 27, 2010

MULALO Sivhidzho's utterances at the crime scene, her inability to show emotion and her vindictiveness during the trial are proof that she killed her husband.

This was prosecutor Maro Pappachristoforou's submission during her closing argument in the Johannesburg high court yesterday.

Sivhidzho allegedly hired co-accused Ntabudzeni Matzhenene and Sello Arnold to kill her husband Avhatakali Netshisaulu, the son of former newspaper editor Mathatha Tsedu.

Netshisaulu's charred body was found in the boot of his car within an hour after he called her to say he was being followed by two cars in Honeydew. He was on his way to meet Matzhenene.

During the two-and-a-half- year trial, five state witnesses testified that when Sivhidzho got to the scene where the car was in flames, she screamed "my husband is in the boot".

"How could she have known that it was her husband's car? She arrived when the car was still up in flames. She said she could identify the car by its towbar. How does that happen? The state's case is corroborated by five witnesses," Papachristoforou said.

She argued Sivhidzho's behaviour when she arrived at the crime scene was not that of an innocent person.

"She was composed for someone who just lost her husband. That she screamed for firefighters to look for him in the boot does not mean she was crying," she said.

"Witnesses said she was constantly on her cellphone conducting interviews, I would have expected someone in her position to be too shocked."

Papachristoforou went on to describe Sivhidzho as abitter person who tried by all means to frustrate court proceedings and discredit anyone who tried to incriminate her.

She said Sivhidzho's greatest victim was her mother-in-law. After telling the court about Sivhidzho's disappearance from the mall, Dzudzanani Netshisaulu spent two weeks on the witness stand being cross-examined about her dead son's finances.

The three accused have pleaded not guilty to all charges.

 
 

Hubby killed'for his money

By Dudu Busani-Dube - Sowetanlive.co.za

February 2, 2010

MULALO Sivhidzho murdered her husband because he had a lot of money - and she wanted it - according to the man she allegedly hired to do the killing.

MULALO Sivhidzho murdered her husband because he had a lot of money - and she wanted it - according to the man she allegedly hired to do the killing.

"She promised to pay me R4000 for the job. I never received my money. When I called her the phone was off," said Ntabudzeni Matsenene in a statement he made to the police.

Matsenene's statement was the first to be read out in the Johannesburg high court after Judge Naren Pandya admitted statements by all three accused as evidence in the trial.

Sivhidzho, Matsenene and co-accused Arnold Sello had tried in vain to have their statements thrown out of court, claiming they were tortured by police into confessing to the crime.

In 2006 they allegedly conspired to murder Sivhidzho's husband, Avhatakali Netshisaulu, by hiring men to hijack, rob and burn him alive in the boot of his car.

Matsenene's seven-page statement describes how after meeting Sivhidzho just once, he was shocked to get a call from her asking for a meeting.

"We met at the Spar on a Saturday. She came in a taxi. She told me she wanted to kill her husband and needed my help. I refused, but she persisted.

"When I asked why she wanted to kill him she said it's because he had a lot of money, and she wanted it."

He said after the meeting, he went to the Zandspruit informal settlement where he organised two Zimbabwean men, Shadrack and Abel.

"Mulalo said she would organise three men on her own."

On December 7 2006 Matsenene and Sivhidzho arranged to meet at a garage close to Zandspruit, with each of them bringing their own hitmen.

Sivhidzho arrived in her husband's car with two men.

"She then told us she was going back home to give him the car so he could come this side where the hitmen would attack him."

Netshisaulu was supposed to meet Matsenene at the same garage that afternoon but was found dead inside the boot of the car.

 

 

 
 
 
 
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