The Polokwane High Court has sentenced a 28-year-old South African woman identified as Mologadi Magdeline Mehlape to life imprisonment for the premeditated murder of her father, Dr Malekutu Johannes Mehlape, a circuit manager at the Limpopo Department of Education.
The sentence, delivered on Wednesday, June 11, follows her guilty plea to charges of murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances. In addition to the life sentence for murder, Mehlape received 15 years for robbery. The court ordered both sentences to run concurrently.
According to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), the case stems from a brutal incident on December 28, 2023, in Mankweng Zone 1, outside Polokwane, where Dr Mehlape was ambushed and shot multiple times in his bedroom. His attackers also stole valuables, including his mobile phone.
NPA spokesperson Mashudu Malabi-Dzhangi revealed that Mehlape orchestrated her father’s murder based on claims by a traditional healer, co-accused Hlologelo Klaas Mogotlane, who alleged that the deceased used witchcraft (muti) to cause the death of her mother. When traditional attempts at retaliation failed, Mehlape reportedly collaborated with family members and agreed to pay R200,000 to have her father killed.
On the night of the murder, Mehlape granted access to the attackers by unlocking the gate and main entrance to her father’s house, enabling them to carry out the killing while he was asleep.
Four other accused, Tshepo Gabriel Ranoto, Hlologelo Klaas Mogotlane, Mahlodi Melida Mathole, and Michael Sello Molongoane, are facing separate charges, including conspiracy to commit murder, murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, and illegal possession of firearms and ammunition. Their trial has been postponed to June 20.
In her plea for leniency, Mehlape apologised to her family, citing unresolved disputes with her father and her responsibility as a caregiver to her 21-month-old daughter. However, State Advocate Muneiwa Ratshibvumo dismissed the apology, arguing that her plea was not motivated by remorse but by the weight of the evidence against her. She described the murder as “gruesome and heartless.”
