THE AGONY CONTINUES

Tshegofatso Pule’s family are reeling after the man convicted of her murder claims her boyfriend was the mastermind behind the sickening crime

- NASIFA SULAIMAN

THEY thought they could close this painful chapter of their lives when the judge handed down the sentence. Eight months after pregnant Tshegofatso Pule was found hanging from a tree with a gunshot wound to her chest, Muzikayise Malephane was given 20 years in jail for his hand in her gruesome murder.

Her family should be celebrating a new life – the baby girl Tshegofatso had so looked forward to welcoming. Instead they have nothing but ongoing pain and trauma.

The man who pulled the trigger may be behind bars but now they have a new ordeal to face: the man Tshegofatso loved, the father of her baby, was arrested too – almost as soon as Malephane was sentenced.

The family suspected there was more to her disappearance when she went missing in June last year, but they had no proof.

“We could only live in hope that time would tell,” says her uncle, Tumisang Katake. “At least the truth will finally come out now.”

Malephane pleaded guilty to murder, obstruction of justice and unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition.

In his plea agreement, he told the court Tshegofatso’s boyfriend was the mastermind behind her murder.

Ntuthuko Shoba allegedly paid Malephane R70 000 to kill Tshegofatso because he didn’t want his fiancée to find out about their unborn child.

Harrowing details of the young woman’s last hours revealed how Malephane shot her in the chest then, in a panic, tried to make her death look like a suicide by putting a rope around her neck and hanging her body from a tree.

According to the family, they didn’t know 32-year-old Shoba was engaged to be married.