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3 weeks ago
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Sabelo Phewa buried his face in his hands, while sinking into the dock at the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Durban on Tuesday.
- Sabelo Phewa has been sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering municipal manager Sibusiso Sithole, who was investigating corruption in Richmond Local Municipality.
- The hitman also killed Amos Ngcobo three months earlier, after being paid R5 000 by the victim’s girlfriend, Mavis Mbutho.
- During his arrest, Phewa used his seven-month-old child and elderly mother-in-law as human shields while firing at police officers.
A hitman who executed a municipal manager investigating corruption in Richmond Local Municipality has been sentenced to life imprisonment.
“You had no ounce of mercy. You were simply a hired gunman who made sure you obliterated your targets,” said Judge Rithy Singh, who sentenced Sabelo Phewa on Tuesday in the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Durban.
“You killed and you received money. In your eyes, the lives of the deceased meant nothing.”
Phewa was convicted in July for the murder of Sibusiso Sithole, who was shot and killed in 2017 at the Richmond Licensing office while attending a council meeting to discuss his corruption probe into municipal tenders and kickbacks.
Sithole’s murder became the subject of the Moerane Commission of Inquiry into Political Killings in KZN. His case was investigated by the Political Killings Task Team, established in 2018.
Phewa was arrested in 2018 at his mother’s home after a dramatic standoff where he used his elderly mother-in-law and a child as human shields while firing at officers.
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Phewa was convicted of attempting to murder Tactical Response Team Constable Lucky Ngema, one of the officers he shot at during arrest.
“Luckily Ngema did not get hurt. One shudders to think another life would have been lost at your hands. The other people in the house could have died. You only thought of protecting yourself and no one else,” Singh said.
She sentenced him to five years for attempted murder.
The gun with 15 live rounds found in his room was linked to Sithole’s murder and the murder of Amos Ngcobo, whom he killed three months earlier.
It emerged in the trial that Phewa had been paid R5 000 to kill Ngcobo by Mavis Mbutho, who was in a relationship with Ngcobo.
Ngcobo was an eThekwini Municipality employee.
Convicted hitman Sabelo Phewa in court.
Singh sentenced Phewa to life imprisonment for Ngcobo’s murder and 15 years for unlicensed firearm possession. She said Sithole was a valuable member of society, while Ngcobo was earning an honest living.
“Not for one second did you think that their deaths would not only deprive them of their lives, but would be detrimental to their families and communities. It’s clear they were mercilessly killed from evidence presented,” said Singh.
She noted that evidence showed Phewa had been aided by three others.
“During trial, you were viewed as a normal member of society. That has changed. You are now one of those people who will learn what happens when you have no respect for life. You have cheapened life, put a price to it, and took it for a few thousand rands.”
Singh said:
The court heard in horror that life to you was so cheap that you used your seven-month-old child as a shield as you shot at police.
Phewa represented himself throughout the trial after firing multiple legal representatives who advised him to plead guilty.
“Throughout the trial, you were belligerent and as slippery as an eel, wanting to evade the finality of the trial. This court will not tolerate such vicious behaviour,” said Singh.
Phewa’s sentences will run concurrently.
